Budget 2022 won't be enough to spur tourism recovery in the country, says Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) president Datuk Tan Kok Liang.
While he commended the targeted wage subsidy and measures such as the Malaysia Digital Nomad initiative and environmental preservation measures to boost ecotourism, Tan said the rest of the Budget fell short of expectations.
"We welcome the targeted assistance to protect the tourism staff force through the extension of the wage subsidy programme, while waiting for the gradual re-opening of borders for international tourists.
"Apart from this, the rest of the Budget initiatives fall short of our expectations to rehabilitate and stimulate domestic travel," he said when contacted.
On the extension of the personal tax relief of up to RM1,000, Tan said this won't be enough to encourage Malaysians to travel domestically.
"The personal tax relief does not create significant impact as the tax savings is only RM210 for a tax payer under the 21% bracket group. Matta had earlier requested for individual tax relief of RM8,000," he said.
According to Tan, the government should have encouraged incentive trips that would boost domestic tourism.
"There were no tax incentives for local companies carrying out incentive trips or holidays for their staff within the country to boost domestic travel," he said.
He, however, looked forward to the RM60mil allocation to boost promotional activities and encourage domestic tourism.
As for the Penjana Tourism Financing dan BPMB Rehabilitation Scheme, Tan said the fund needs to be made easily accessible to tourism operators.
"Flexibility of terms and nominal interest rate must be implemented to ensure the Penjana Tourism Financing and BPMB rehabilitation scheme is successful and enable hard press tourism SMEs to access the funds," he said.
While he commended the targeted wage subsidy and measures such as the Malaysia Digital Nomad initiative and environmental preservation measures to boost ecotourism, Tan said the rest of the Budget fell short of expectations.
"We welcome the targeted assistance to protect the tourism staff force through the extension of the wage subsidy programme, while waiting for the gradual re-opening of borders for international tourists.
"Apart from this, the rest of the Budget initiatives fall short of our expectations to rehabilitate and stimulate domestic travel," he said when contacted.
On the extension of the personal tax relief of up to RM1,000, Tan said this won't be enough to encourage Malaysians to travel domestically.
"The personal tax relief does not create significant impact as the tax savings is only RM210 for a tax payer under the 21% bracket group. Matta had earlier requested for individual tax relief of RM8,000," he said.
According to Tan, the government should have encouraged incentive trips that would boost domestic tourism.
"There were no tax incentives for local companies carrying out incentive trips or holidays for their staff within the country to boost domestic travel," he said.
He, however, looked forward to the RM60mil allocation to boost promotional activities and encourage domestic tourism.
As for the Penjana Tourism Financing dan BPMB Rehabilitation Scheme, Tan said the fund needs to be made easily accessible to tourism operators.
"Flexibility of terms and nominal interest rate must be implemented to ensure the Penjana Tourism Financing and BPMB rehabilitation scheme is successful and enable hard press tourism SMEs to access the funds," he said.
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