By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Feb 21: Sarawak will not make a big issue out of the tourism tax for the time being as the regional government is generating good revenue from other sources, but Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah did not discount the possibility of revisiting the matter in the future.
The Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Art pointed out that Sarawak is not losing much from the tourism tax collected as it does not involve a substantial amount compared to revenues generated from other sources like oil and gas.
“Tourism tax collected from Sarawak is just a small component. So far, it is not really affecting us. We are not specifically looking at that, saying we are losing so much.
“There are other sources we can generate income from. I think we will leave it as it is for the meantime, but there will come a time when we will have to revisit this because presently there are so many other areas we have to review, and among them the continental shelf, Petroleum Development Act (PDA) as well as airspace or spectrum as Sarawak is the only region which has amended the Land Code whereby signals passing through the region will need to seek permission and possibly to include a fee charge,” he told a press conference today.
Abdul Karim highlighted this after launching ‘Kuching Park Hotel — the First Smart and Digital Hotel’ at Jalan Padungan here today.
He emphasised that the Sarawak and federal governments will continue to collaborate closely as both parties will need each other to push and reinvent the tourism industry to ensure sustainable growth.
“Tourism is presently still under the Federal List. I think the federal government is well aware that tourism had been bulldozed into the federal List without discussion (in 1994 when the Federal Constitution was amended).
“But tourism is something which Sarawak is actively involved in, and they (federal government) need Sarawak. So we can cooperate very well. We won’t make that into a big issue,” he added.
Abdul Karim further said that the federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) might be envious of Sarawak for its ability to sustain the region’s tourism development on its own and of the support given by the Sarawak government towards the tourism industry.
Deputy Minister of Tourism Datuk Sebastian Ting, Deputy Minister of Creative Industry and Performing Arts Datuk Snowdan Lawan, Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chief executive officer Sharzede Salleh Askor, Kuching Park Hotel director Wong Liong Mew and its general manager Mason Tang were among those present. — DayakDaily
