MyBHA asks govt to address hospitality industry issues

MyBHA said that taxes have been lost due to the failure to take early action against threats to the industry.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Budget and Business Hotel Association (MyBHA) says the government should introduce a more effective budget in solving threats to the hospitality industry and recover tax revenue leakages as efforts to restore industry capacity.

MyBHA said in a statement that taxes have been lost due to the failure to take early action against threats to the industry due to the lack of specific law reforms to regulate short-term residential accommodation (STRA) and all types of online travel agencies (OTAs).

The association said this has brought the rights and profits of hoteliers to be long taken away.

“The year of visiting Malaysia has been reset to 2026 with a target arrival of 26.1 million foreign tourists and we will not benefit if STRA and all types of OTAs fail to be regulated,” it said in a statement in response to Budget 2024.

In addition, MyBHA said Budget 2024 will not have a positive long-term effect on the recovery efforts of the hospitality industry.

The association also believes that it will force an increase in prices if the sales and service tax (SST) increases from 6% to 8% without raising the threshold value of the SST for the industry.

“We are disappointed when there is no efforts to raise the annual threshold value of the SST for the hotel industry from RM500,000 to RM1.5mil, as budget hotels are used by the B40 group, which has been voiced for a long time,” it said.

Hence, MyBHA believes that to restore the ability of the industry, the government should strive to introduce a better, friendlier and more effective budget for the hospitality and tourism industry in Malaysia.

“We have outlined the issues that should be emphasised by the government in preparing for Budget 2024 and hope it will give consideration in helping the hospitality industry to survive and gradually recover in the years to come,” it added.

On a separate note, MyBHA thanked the government for allocating RM350mil to boost tourism promotion and activities for Malaysia to return as a top tourist destination.