GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government will decide whether or not to proceed with the collection of hotel room fees, a practice which has been put in place in the state since 2014, said the Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
The hotel room fees require visitors to pay RM3 per room per night in hotels above four stars and RM2 per room per night for hotels three-star and below.
The money collected would be spent on tourism promotion activities.
Chow said this following the announcement on sharing of the tourism tax collected by the Federal Government, as announced in the recent 2019 Budget.
“With the latest announcement, we will decide whether we will continue to collect the hotel room fees or not.
“We will discuss this further with committee comprising the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Penang and related government agencies before coming to a final decision,” he said when met after the official opening of the International Victor Badminton Series 2018 Championshiop here today.
When tabling the 2019 Budget last Friday, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had announced that 50 per cent of tourism tax collected would be shared with the respective state governments.
Chow said the 50 per cent of tourism tax received would be used to further boost tourism promotion activities in the state in efforts to draw in more visitors.
In a separate development, Chow said the state government is expected to table its 2019 Budget at the state legislative assembly sitting this Friday.
“We will wait until then on what is there for the people. I don’t intend to reveal details of the state budget for now,” he added.