KOTA KINABALU: Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) inbound vice president, Datuk Tan Kok Liang (pictured) has expressed grave concern on the negative impact that the Tourism Services Fee (TSF) can bring if it is applied to all hotel rooms nationwide.
“Under the TSF scheme, all star rated hotels will be levied a per room/night fee of RM30 for 5-star, RM20 for 4-star, RM10 for 3-star and below, and RM5 for Orchid rated hotel.
“If so, it would raise eyebrows if potential guests were told that they have to pay up to RM30 extra each night to the Government for their hotel rooms.
“This is acceptable if it is standard practice worldwide. If not, it would stand out like a sore thumb and a destination to be avoided,” Tan said in a statement, yesterday.
He said that it is crucial for the Sabah State Government to oppose such proposal simply because 65 per cent of tourists arrivals are from the domestic market and the destination will become uncompetitive in terms of pricing to attract domestic tourists.
“The TSF will see an increase of between six per cent to 12 per cent of accommodation rates.
“West Malaysian leisure travelers and incentive groups would find it more attractive to travel to regional destinations rather than Sabah due to the high airfares and ground costs,” he added.
He said that Sabah is currently experiencing an influx of tourists from China and in the first five months of the year, there has been a recorded increase of 49.3 per cent of tourists from China.
“Chinese tourist arrivals from January to May 2016 recorded 143,199 against 95,933 for the corresponding period last year. “They are price sensitive and the imposition of TSF will have a negative impact on their arrivals. It could be a fatal mistake similar to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs,” Tan said.
Tan also said any imposition of TSF must have a reasonable time frame as most contractual terms are already firmed up to 31st March 2017.
He added that the TSF fee must also be more reasonable and acceptable to all stakeholders should it be implemented.
“Such levies will adversely impact Sabah the most as it is the most successful state in the country in terms of tourism, whereby 10 per cent of the state’s income is derived from 3.2 million tourists spendingRM6.6 billion a year.
“Whatever amount that can be collected as levy would represent only a tiny fraction of the huge revenue lost from the exercise,” he said further.
He added that although tourists are happy to spend thousands of Ringgit at holiday destinations, especially for shopping, forcing them to pay for fees would only cause resentment.
“The Government recognises this and had earlier waived visa fees for China visitors.
“But to introduce TSF now would leave a bad taste in their mouths.”
“MATTA had been supportive of Tourism Malaysia’s efforts in promoting domestic tourism, as evident in MATTA Fairs where domestic tour packages are given prominence.
“But such tasks would prove harder when Malaysians prefer to go for holidays in neighbouring countries to avoid paying the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the hotel levy,” he added.
Tan also said that currently the state tourism industry generates aboutRM368 million in GST payable to the federal government for 2016.
“The imposition of TSF will see an additional RM58,439,000 fees payable to the Federal government based on the hotel inventory on hand with an occupancy rate of 65 per cent.
“Perhaps it is time for the State government to manage fees derived from the tourism industry to be ploughed back for promotions and marketing for Sabah,” Tan proposed.
“As such, the tourism industry players in Sabah wish to place on record that the proposed TSF be shelved, as introducing it would have severe repercussions to the state’s tourism industry which could stunt the growth of tourism infrastructures, coupled with the loss of employment and revenue to the people and state of Sabah”, he added.