Malaysian parliament passes Tourism Tax Bill in record session
Apr 6, 2017, 12:43 pm
#1
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Malaysian parliament passes Tourism Tax Bill in record session
Malaysian parliament passes Tourism Tax Bill in record session
Please see:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...n/3656022.html
Overall it's good to know...but a few questions remain unanswered for visitors...at this time...
We look forward to learn how the new tourism tax will be collected and how much it will be, plus how hotels will be impacted or if.
Cheers & Safe Travels. ^
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian parliament passed a Tourism Tax Bill in a record session that lasted for almost 20 hours, ending on Thursday morning (Apr 6).
Parliament was adjourned after the Tourism Tax Bill 2017 that was tabled by Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz was passed with a big majority.
When winding up the debate for the Bill, Mohamed Nazri said revenue from Tourism Tax would be in the region of RM654.62 million if the overall occupancy rate for the 11 million "room night" in the country can achieve 60 per cent.
The Bill will allow the government to impose tourism tax levied on a tourist staying at any accommodation premise made available by an operator at the rate fixed by the minister in accordance with the law.
Parliament was adjourned after the Tourism Tax Bill 2017 that was tabled by Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz was passed with a big majority.
When winding up the debate for the Bill, Mohamed Nazri said revenue from Tourism Tax would be in the region of RM654.62 million if the overall occupancy rate for the 11 million "room night" in the country can achieve 60 per cent.
The Bill will allow the government to impose tourism tax levied on a tourist staying at any accommodation premise made available by an operator at the rate fixed by the minister in accordance with the law.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...n/3656022.html
Overall it's good to know...but a few questions remain unanswered for visitors...at this time...
We look forward to learn how the new tourism tax will be collected and how much it will be, plus how hotels will be impacted or if.
Cheers & Safe Travels. ^
Apr 19, 2017, 6:04 am
#3
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Apr 19, 2017, 8:54 am
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Only RM 20? Why not make it RM 2000 per night, at which point the revenue from Tourist Tax would be in the region of RM 65.462 billion, just enough to kick off 2MDB and perhaps even 3MDB. If only the parliament gave it a further couple of hours, they would have easily reached that conclusion as well. And I'm sure the tourists will be delighted to participate, particularly so if it makes the filming of a sequel to the Wolf of Wall Street possible.
Apr 19, 2017, 10:33 am
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Only RM 20? Why not make it RM 2000 per night, at which point the revenue from Tourist Tax would be in the region of RM 65.462 billion, just enough to kick off 2MDB and perhaps even 3MDB. If only the parliament gave it a further couple of hours, they would have easily reached that conclusion as well. And I'm sure the tourists will be delighted to participate, particularly so if it makes the filming of a sequel to the Wolf of Wall Street possible.
I worry your reference might be too obscure for many
This might help:
http://www.wsj.com/specialcoverage/malaysia-controversy
Apr 21, 2017, 9:45 am
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But if they made that a blanket 20 MYR per night.....good way to drive out some of the backpackers. Maybe Thailand can copy this to help with the "quality tourists" problem.
Jun 13, 2017, 4:57 pm
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2) At a time when the country is throwing everything it can to pull in tourist from China, Taiwan, Korea and neighbouring countries to keep the tourist dollars flowing at key tourist destinations (i.e. Kinabalu, Kuching, Penang, Langkawi, Melaka, KL), and pressuring Air Asia, Malindo and Malaysia Airlines to do more direct flights to key destinations in Korea, China and Taiwan from Kinabalu, Penang, Kuching and KL, this is a tax the tourism industry does not need.
It raises the cost of a tour package on a per room basis which, if you know how the chinese tour groups work, will affect profits in and costs for other tour companies who will have to reduce their costs to these agents as the tour companies WILL NOT BUDGE on their tour packages.
3) This is being introduced with a launch date of 1st July...tour groups would have committed to tours 3-4 months ago so someone will have to bite the bullet and absorb the new added costs.
Do the maths.
The costs on a per group basis can be very significant. RM20 x 5 nights in a hotel means an additional RM100.
On top of that, airport tax, service tax, GST and in some cities like Kinabalu, they already charge hotels room taxes from the local council on a per month basis....
I can go on but..again, this tax is being introduced at the wrong time and with not enough discussion as to how it would affect and will affect tourism.
Visiting Malaysia was expensive, by asian standards in comparison to say Phuket and Bali. It just got a little bit more expensive.
Of course, not Singapore/HK expensive but significant enough to affect the tour group industry.
Malaysia Tourism is insignificant today; their old school method of se4tting up branch offices in key cities overseas does very little for the actual marketing of a country in the tourism industry today with the rise of social media and online advertising.
The budget is meant to pay for the Ministry of Tourism..and this, is not good. They are going to go back to their old way's, wasting millions as per usual on over staffed offices of government employee's who, for the most part, have no interest in tourism or are motivated to work hard to promote Malaysia and sit all day in the office doing nothing.
There are some very hard working individuals within that ministry but for the most part, this department should be shut down.
Jun 14, 2017, 10:04 am
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1) The country is in a recession.
2) At a time when the country is throwing everything it can to pull in tourist from China, Taiwan, Korea and neighbouring countries to keep the tourist dollars flowing at key tourist destinations (i.e. Kinabalu, Kuching, Penang, Langkawi, Melaka, KL), and pressuring Air Asia, Malindo and Malaysia Airlines to do more direct flights to key destinations in Korea, China and Taiwan from Kinabalu, Penang, Kuching and KL, this is a tax the tourism industry does not need.
It raises the cost of a tour package on a per room basis which, if you know how the chinese tour groups work, will affect profits in and costs for other tour companies who will have to reduce their costs to these agents as the tour companies WILL NOT BUDGE on their tour packages.
3) This is being introduced with a launch date of 1st July...tour groups would have committed to tours 3-4 months ago so someone will have to bite the bullet and absorb the new added costs.
Do the maths.
The costs on a per group basis can be very significant. RM20 x 5 nights in a hotel means an additional RM100.
On top of that, airport tax, service tax, GST and in some cities like Kinabalu, they already charge hotels room taxes from the local council on a per month basis....
I can go on but..again, this tax is being introduced at the wrong time and with not enough discussion as to how it would affect and will affect tourism.
Visiting Malaysia was expensive, by asian standards in comparison to say Phuket and Bali. It just got a little bit more expensive.
Of course, not Singapore/HK expensive but significant enough to affect the tour group industry.
2) At a time when the country is throwing everything it can to pull in tourist from China, Taiwan, Korea and neighbouring countries to keep the tourist dollars flowing at key tourist destinations (i.e. Kinabalu, Kuching, Penang, Langkawi, Melaka, KL), and pressuring Air Asia, Malindo and Malaysia Airlines to do more direct flights to key destinations in Korea, China and Taiwan from Kinabalu, Penang, Kuching and KL, this is a tax the tourism industry does not need.
It raises the cost of a tour package on a per room basis which, if you know how the chinese tour groups work, will affect profits in and costs for other tour companies who will have to reduce their costs to these agents as the tour companies WILL NOT BUDGE on their tour packages.
3) This is being introduced with a launch date of 1st July...tour groups would have committed to tours 3-4 months ago so someone will have to bite the bullet and absorb the new added costs.
Do the maths.
The costs on a per group basis can be very significant. RM20 x 5 nights in a hotel means an additional RM100.
On top of that, airport tax, service tax, GST and in some cities like Kinabalu, they already charge hotels room taxes from the local council on a per month basis....
I can go on but..again, this tax is being introduced at the wrong time and with not enough discussion as to how it would affect and will affect tourism.
Visiting Malaysia was expensive, by asian standards in comparison to say Phuket and Bali. It just got a little bit more expensive.
Of course, not Singapore/HK expensive but significant enough to affect the tour group industry.
The 20 Ringgit a night is only on 5 star hotels. Those hotels cost hundreds of Ringgit per night, so I don't think those people will care about an extra 5 per night.
I'm assuming the Chinese groups are staying in 2 and 3 star properties, which are only going to be taxed 5 Ringgit per night.
So you don't like the timing. Would a better time to raise taxes be when the economy is stronger and tourism is higher? Should they have left the hotels alone and raised taxes for international air arrivals?
Overall, nobody likes to pay more taxes. I'm more in shock about Uber being cheaper than the KLIA Express. I agree that Malaysia isn't the cheapest place in the region, and that's why I rarely go there. Raising the taxes by a $1 US per night in a 3 star hotel is not going to effect my decision though.
Thailand charges 700 baht just to fly into their country
Jun 14, 2017, 4:51 pm
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The actual tax doesn't start until Aug 1. Operators have to register by July 1.
The 20 Ringgit a night is only on 5 star hotels. Those hotels cost hundreds of Ringgit per night, so I don't think those people will care about an extra 5 per night.
I'm assuming the Chinese groups are staying in 2 and 3 star properties, which are only going to be taxed 5 Ringgit per night.
So you don't like the timing. Would a better time to raise taxes be when the economy is stronger and tourism is higher? Should they have left the hotels alone and raised taxes for international air arrivals?
Overall, nobody likes to pay more taxes. I'm more in shock about Uber being cheaper than the KLIA Express. I agree that Malaysia isn't the cheapest place in the region, and that's why I rarely go there. Raising the taxes by a $1 US per night in a 3 star hotel is not going to effect my decision though.
Thailand charges 700 baht just to fly into their country
The 20 Ringgit a night is only on 5 star hotels. Those hotels cost hundreds of Ringgit per night, so I don't think those people will care about an extra 5 per night.
I'm assuming the Chinese groups are staying in 2 and 3 star properties, which are only going to be taxed 5 Ringgit per night.
So you don't like the timing. Would a better time to raise taxes be when the economy is stronger and tourism is higher? Should they have left the hotels alone and raised taxes for international air arrivals?
Overall, nobody likes to pay more taxes. I'm more in shock about Uber being cheaper than the KLIA Express. I agree that Malaysia isn't the cheapest place in the region, and that's why I rarely go there. Raising the taxes by a $1 US per night in a 3 star hotel is not going to effect my decision though.
Thailand charges 700 baht just to fly into their country
Because there is no transparency as to how and what the tax is going to be spent on. Malaysia Tourism has a bad reputation for wasting money and being terribly over staffed with a muslim majority staffing with literally no other minorities within the organization and not really doing very much. It essentially functions as just another government agency that is there to do a job that has become extinct.
Advertising/promoting Malaysia.
This can be done directly by state and local tourism offices (all the key cities and states have their own tourism departments) without the need for a federal department doing it's own promotions.
At a time when the government has failed to control the cost of living as well as seen to be acting like a "gangster"in how it has approached fellow members of parliment and local ministers and representatives to explain the tax, it is causing a lot of unhappiness within the Malaysian community.
This "tax" affects Malaysians as well. Especially in the poorer regions of the country where the cost of staying in a budget hotel or 3/4 star hotel has gone up in price with the added burden of GST and service taxes.
You may not feel or or realize it but the ordinary man, women and child who earn less than RM1000 per month does especially if they are from a rural village and need to visit the city for medical treatment or for other purposes.
Jun 14, 2017, 4:53 pm
#12
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Cost of living has just gone up some more. That is why Malaysians are angry.
Jun 14, 2017, 6:56 pm
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Introduce something but not actually work out the mechanisms to implement it and when they do decide to work out the mechanisms, they have all of 1-2 months before it is introduced leaving very little time for any changes.
It's normal.