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Malaysian tourism desperately needs government support

Monday, May 31, 2021

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With zero income in tourism and agencies plunged in debt, the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents is requesting the government to offer some tax relief that would make the financial burden easy to some extent for 3,000 of its members.


To quote Nigel Wong, MATTA’s honorary secretary-general, ‘’Any form of tax relief would be welcomed, given that very little financial assistance is forthcoming for the travel and tourism sector.” Nigel also emphasized that some 90% of the 47,000 workers in the sector have lost their jobs.


He stated that this when elaborating on MATTA’s proposal for the government to introduce a tourism recovery roadmap during Bernama TV’s “Midday Update” programme last week.


Also, MATTA is keen to get moratorium extension on loans by banks. This would include leasing companies, as buses and vans used by travel and tour companies were purchased from leasing companies, he said.


Wong also mentioned that it is financially hard to preserve the huge number of transport vehicles like buses and vans, ever since the pandemic hit the world and brought businesses to a screeching halt.


“Our estimates — based on our survey of 3,000 MATTA members alone — indicate that we are looking at close to, or if not more than 9,000 vehicles classified as ‘Bas Persiaran’ (excursion buses).To put it into context, a 40-seater tour bus can cost anywhere between RM490,000-RM580,000, meaning that the leasing and loan payments could be exorbitant, especially during the current slowdown,” he said.

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