The Malacca state government’s plan to impose a five per cent heritage fee on hotel guests from September 1 has drawn flak from the local travel trade. “The heritage tax is unreasonable and irrelevant,” said Stadhuys Tours and Travel managing director William Chan. “It makes no sense to impose a tax, especially with the current economic situation. The state had already raised the water tariff recently, so an additional tax is a burden for the industry.”
Malacca Budget Hotels Association chairman Hendon Puteh said that as many members were already charging six per cent government tax, with some charging an additional 10 per cent service charge on hotel bills, the total 21 per cent fee imposed on guests would be too much of a disincentive for overnight stays. Chan said that representatives from tour operators, hotels and the Malaysian Association of Hotels and Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents were planning to present a memorandum to the Chief Minister to hold a discussion to review the tax.
According to Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, the estimated RM12.0 million (US$4.04 million) generated annually from the new tax will enable the state government to conduct maintenance and conservation of heritage sites and beautification programmes.
-TTG Asia.
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