BELURAN lawmaker Ronald Kiandee (BN) claimed today the Pakatan Harapan government has changed its stand on the tourism tax.

Khoo Poay Tiong (PH-Kota Melaka) had earlier asked if the government would review the tax implemented by the Barisan Nasional government on September 1 last year.

Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik said the government reviewed the tax and cited a few countries, such as United States, Japan and Indonesia, whose tourism industry is thriving despite the tax.

“The tax is only applied to foreigners and does not burden locals.

“The rate of RM10 is equivalent to US$2.50 or €2.10 a night and it is a minimum rate which does not burden the tourists,” said Bakhtiar, adding that the government had not received any complaint from foreign tourists.

The ministry has also collected RM146 million from September 2017 until June, based on reports from the Customs Department.

Kiandee then asked a supplementary question where he referred to the government’s stand on the tax before asking if the government would increase the rate to provide more funds for states.  

“Based on the answer that the deputy minister had given, I can see that the current government’s stand is not to review the tax although then (as opposition) they did not agree with it.

“Congratulations because there is a change in (the government’s stand) towards a better direction for the tourism industry,” said the former deputy speaker with a smile and laughter from other opposition members.

Bakhtiar then denied that the government had changed its view on the matter.

“Actually when the tax was to be implemented to Malaysians last year, the opposition pressured the BN government then to change the policy and only apply it to foreign tourists,” he said while a few government members supported the answer.

He also said the government has no plans to increase the rate.

The tourism tax of RM10 per room per night is applied to all foreigners boarding at premises, including hotels, rest houses and motels.

Budget hotels recently urged the new PH government to scrap the tourism tax as it made foreign tourists on a budget to opt for other countries in the region.

Last month, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Mohamaddin Ketapi said the government would review the tax to determine whether it was reasonable or too high. – August 6, 2018.