By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, June 28: The federal government will provide one-off assistance of RM3,000 to more than 5,300 registered travel agencies.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the tourism sector was one of the most affected segments during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As a ‘kick-start’, when the country moves to the third phase of National Recovery Plan (PPN), the government will provide one-off assistance of RM3,000 to more than 5,300 registered travel agencies.
“The government has also agreed to defer payment of monthly income tax installments to companies and exempt tourism tax and service tax to hotel operators until the end of this year,” he said when announcing the People’s Protection and Economic Recovery Package (Pemulih) in a live telecast today.
Next, as the country moves into the fourth phase of the PPN, Muhyiddin said the government will consider appropriate allocations to rehabilitate and revitalise tourism activities.
The government has also agreed to allow over 9,000 MARA enterpreneurs to apply for deferment of repayment of MARA business financing for a period of three months or rescheduling of financing repayment by extending the financing period up to 36 months.
MARA will also extend a 30 per cent discount on the rental of MARA business premises for another five months, until December 2021. More than 5,700 tenants are expected to benefit from this initiative.
“As previously announced, owners of buildings and business spaces who offer a rental reduction of at least 30 per cent to traders in the period up to 31 December 2021 are eligible for a special tax deduction,” he added.— DayakDaily
