The Malaysian Insight

THE economic stimulus package provides “breathing space” for the tourism industry to consolidate and recover, said Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) president Tan Kok Liang.

He told The Malaysian Insight the initiatives announced yesterday in the economic stimulus package, of which the tourism sector is a top beneficiary, will be short-term mitigating measures.

“These are all short-term (measures) for us, where we have cashflow. It is a breathing space, otherwise, we will be unable to fulfil our overheads with the slowdown in business volume,” Tan said.

Should the Covid-19 outbreak worsen, the fear of travel will have a “domino effect and serious repercussions” on every segment of the industry.

While welcoming the fiscal stimulus package, he said Putrajaya should also consider visa waivers for Indian citizens to make up the shortfall in visitors from China.

Another initiative that should have been included is a double deduction for team-building or staff training for meeting, incentives, conference and exhibition events in Malaysia to spur domestic travel, he said.

Tan was commenting on the RM20 billion economic stimulus package announced by interim prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to mitigate the impacts of the virus outbreak on the tourism and other affected industries.

Tan said the stimulus package, which exceeds the RM7.3 billion allocated during the SARS crisis in 2003, is more comprehensive, holistic and benefits not only the tourism industry but the rakyat as a whole.

“Almost all the recommendations proposed by Matta, together with other leading industry bodies, have been taken into account by the government and meets the expectations of the industry.” 

Of key significance to the industry are the following:

1. Deferment of monthly income tax instalment payments for businesses in the tourism sector.

2. A 15% discount in monthly electricity bills for hotels, travel agencies, airlines, shopping malls, conventions and exhibitions centres.

3. Exemption of Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) levies for hotels and travel-related companies.

4. Reduction of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contribution by employees by 4%, from 11% to 7%. Matta also hopes that employer contributions can be reduced by 4%, from 13% to 9%.

5. Double deduction on expenses incurred on approved tourism-related training and up to RM100 million on a matching grant basis to HRDF to fund an additional 40,000 employees from the tourism and other affected sectors.

6. A special relief facility worth RM2 billion, particularly in the form of working capital for small medium enterprises (SMEs) at an interest rate of 3.75% by Bank Negara.

7. Financial relief in the form of a payment moratorium comprising restructuring and rescheduling loans for affected businesses and individuals by Malaysian banks.

Better than nothing

Malaysia Inbound Chinese Association (MICA) president Angie Ng said while the stimulus package is not perfect, it is better than nothing.

She said the move to give a 15% discount on monthly electricity bills to hotels, tourism agencies, airlines, shopping malls, and convention and exhibition centres is not helpful.

This is because, since the Covid-19 outbreak, many travel agencies have cut down on operations.

“To save costs and prevent infection, we allow employees to work from home, and discounting electricity bills doesn’t really help us,” she said.

She added that the RM600 one-off payment to registered taxi drivers, tour bus and trishaw drivers is less than the S$1,000 (RM3,000) offered by the Singapore Tourism Board to tour guides. – February 28, 2020.