THE Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Terengganu chapter hopes that the government will continue with several initiatives until June next year to ensure the survival of the industry post-Covid-19.

Its chairman, Suaibah Harun, said among the assistance needed by hotel operators are the wage subsidy programme, discounts on electricity and water bills and sewerage system as well as improvement on the tax system in the tourism industry.

“Hotel operators sincerely hope that the government continues with the wage subsidy programme to help employers retain the same number of employees on their respective premises,” she said when met by reporters last night.

“This initiative should be continued at least until June 2022 or when the international borders are reopened.”

To date, there are 36 hotels registered with Terengganu MAH.

Suaibah said hotel operators also hope that the government would negotiate with utility service providers such as Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Syarikat Air Terengganu Sdn Bhd and Indah Water Konsortium to provide discounts to them.

“Our operations, which have been badly affected, are also burdened with utility expenses while the companies are still reporting huge profits. Therefore, we hope the discounts could assist us in the recovery process to resume our operations,” she said.

Suaibah, who is also Primula Beach Hotel general manager, said Terengganu MAH hopes that the government could review some aspects of taxation, especially digital tax for online travel agents such as Booking and Agoda, which continued to increase commission rates without any monitoring.

“Starting with a commission of just 6%, these online travel agents are slowly increasing the rate up to 30%,” she said.

“We agree that their worldwide customer access greatly helps the arrival of tourists to the hotel. However, there needs to be a ceiling on the commission. Terengganu MAH hopes the government will intervene in this matter.”

The association also hopes that the government would continue with the tourism tax exemption until 2023 as well as the sales and service tax exemption for rooms and food until June 2022. – Bernama, October 2, 2021.