A three per cent reduction in Goods and Services Tax (GST) on domestic flights should be considered by the government to encourage more integration between Malaysians from the peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak.

Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said that total domestic tourism in Sabah showed a decline of 0.4 per cent between January and July this year, compared to the same period last year.

“GST may be one of the factors that contributed to the drop, although there are other factors such as the economic downturn we are facing in our country.

“The economic state could also be why Malaysians are more careful when travelling, or only travel to destinations nearby,” he told reporters after giving a talk on ‘Leading Sabah’s Tourism through Trying Times’ at the National Institute of Public Administration (Intan) Sabah Campus here yesterday.

He said that to foster unity and integration among Malaysians, a reduction in GST for domestic travels should be made from the current six per cent to three per cent.

Earlier during his talk, Masidi explained that from January to July this year, the average arrival of international tourists had increased as much as 13 per cent compared to the same time last year.

“The increase in these figures shows a bright future in the tourism industry in Sabah.

“Tourists from China alone contributed as much as 48.2 per cent to the growth, South Korea 40 per cent, Taiwan 27 per cent and Brunei six per cent, with Germany depicting the most notable rise of 40.6 per cent,” he said.

According to Masidi, the age group of tourists who come to Sabah showed that 84 per cent are aged 50 and below, with a majority of those between 21 and 30, while most Australians who visit Sabah are aged 50 and above.

Meanwhile, he said 58 per cent of tourists to Sabah comprised women, with 89.2 per cent of tourists who came for holiday and another 3.4 per cent for meeting purposes et cetera.

“A total of 59 per cent of tourists who come to Sabah visit on their own without the management of a travel agent, while only 11 per cent of our visitors use that service.

“I would suggest that travel agents re-evaluate their marketing strategy as quite a number of tourists travel on their own, and they even manage to get lower rates on accommodation and such,” he said.

In addition, Masidi disclosed that 15 per cent of tourists were those who had been to Sabah before, while 34 per cent comprised professionals and another 21.3 per cent students who came here to do research.

He said many students from Europe, Japan and Singapore visited Sabah for the purpose of conducting studies, particularly in the Danum Valley, and most of them put up in hotels.

He said hoteliers had a positive future in Sabah, seeing that during peak seasons, Sabah still does not have sufficient lodging.

“With all the positive development we’ve achieved, we still face many challenges, the most pressing of them being safety.

“Apart from safety, cancellation of routes by Malaysian airlines since two years back contributes to the slump in tourist arrivals to Sabah, as there are no direct flights.

“We also face travel warnings, specifically from the US, Europe, Australia, the UK and Japan,” he said.

Masidi added that alongside the challenges, competition was growing stiffer among neighbouring countries, specifically Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Jakarta in Indonesia.

He said various efforts were being made with aggressive promotions in China, while India was seen as another big potential to bring more tourists to Sabah.

“We recently sent a group to Pakistan and that country has many interesting tourist destinations, but flights to and fro must be available.

“India, on the other hand, has the potential to expand its economy in the future and efforts will be made to promote Sabah tourism in that country,” he said.

Masidi stressed that the tourism industry in Sabah must be protected as it provides job opportunities to over 90 per cent of Malaysians, especially Sabahans, compared to other sectors that depend heavily on foreign labour.

“It’s not that we want to compare or belittle other sectors, but this is the reality. That’s why, no matter who the minister is, the tourism industry must be given adequate protection.

“Look after this industry as best you can because it is always generating jobs for our people,” he said.

Masidi also opined that tourism marketing approaches should be updated to incorporate the latest in information technology, such as social media.

“We need to keep up with the times and we need to improve our services in terms of quality in all fields,” he said.

Also present during yesterday’s talk was Intan Sabah Campus director, Samsul Dollah.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by Borneo Post

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