KUCHING: The Sarawak Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SAICCI) stands solidly behind Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah on his timely views on the controversial tourism tax, its press statement said yesterday.
Its president Rajah Murugaiah said federal minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s scathing attack against his fellow Sarawak Barisan Nasional colleague was uncalled for as Abdul Karim was just expressing his concern the tourism tax would have on the State’s hotel and tourism industry.
“Our tourism industry may not be as developed as the rest of the country, including Sabah. Imagine the negative effects the tax would have on our tourism and service sector,” Rajah said through the press statement.
Nazri, the Tourism and Culture Minister, had on Sunday hit out at Karim for appealing to Putrajaya to put off the tax, arguing it was against the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which is a form of social contract introduced as a condition for Sarawak helping to form Malaysia.
Rajah said SAICCI, the business arm of the State’s Indian community, felt Sarawak had not been properly consulted, adding that hotel owners did not wish to be seen as money gobblers.
“Business travellers as well as leisure tourists, including domestic travellers, will be affected by the tax. SAICCI opposes the tourism tax, which is counterproductive to the hotel and tourism industry,” he said.
Rajah believed that Putrajaya had only engaged three hotel groups, namely the Malaysian Association of Hotels, Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners and the Malaysia Budget Hotel Association twice last year.
“I doubt Sarawak hoteliers were consulted. It’s understood that in the first meeting in August last year, Putrajaya said it wanted to implement a tourism service fee. In the second meeting sometime in October, the government renamed it tourism promotion fee. Now that it has been passed by Parliament, it is known as the tourism tax. Next, what will they call it?” he added.
Rajah recalled a recent statement by Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners vice president Mohamad Halim Merican who said the tourism tax would “put a strain on most hotel operators’ cash flow as they need to update the operating and accounting systems to manage the collection, including commission and fees involved upon receipts of the tax payment from their customers.”
The controversial Tourism Tax Bill 2017 which comes into force on 1 July was approved on April 6 after it was tabled by Nazri.
The tax involves the collection of RM20 per night from tourists staying at a five-star hotel room; RM10 to RM15 per night for a four-star room; RM5 per night for a three-star, two-star and one-star room, and RM2.50 for an orchid or no-star room.
On another note, Rajah said SAICCI hoped Putrajaya and federal ministers will adopt a more tactful stand when it came to issues involving sensitivities of Sarawak.
