Common stand on tourism tax

June 24, 2017

Abdul Karim says state welcomes Sabah’s invitation to deliberate on some pertinent issues of the Tourism Act

KUCHING: Sarawak and Sabah have been discussing a joint approach to the tourism tax.

Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah confirmed tourism officers from Sabah and Sarawak met here last week with the Attorney-General of both states.

“We will look at this from a common stand. 

I agree with (Sabah Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Panglima) Masidi (Manjun) that the Act should be refined. We will approach it together,” he said after a special meeting with the Kuching North City Commission yesterday.

Abdul Karim said he welcomes Masidi’s invitation for a joint Sabah-Sarawak tourism tax memorandum.

“That is what I said earlier that we need to sit down, there are many players, hotels and hotel operators, so we cannot implement it tergesa-gesa (in a hurry).

Why do we need to do it tergesa-gesa? 

So we need to sit down and make sure everybody is happy and understands how the mechanism of this tax is to be done,” he said.

He stressed that the memorandum will not oppose the implementation of the tax but would cover areas requiring refinement such as who will collect the tax, where the tax will go, the receipts and other matters.

“We will always be together as Borneo states because we formed Malaysia together with West Malaysia. 

And when we feel something related to Sabah and Sarawak that may need to be discussed together collectively, we will meet and discuss,” he said. -TheBorneoPost