By Ling Hui
KUCHING, May 28: All licensed travel agencies, licensed homestay operators, registered tourist guides and national park guides, and licensed tourist vehicle drivers will be receiving one-off cash incentives between RM500 to RM3,000 under the sixth Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS 6.0).
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said 216 licensed travel agencies would be given RM3,000 each while 568 licensed homestay operators will be getting RM600 each.
He said another 219 tourist guides and 173 national park tourist guides registered in Sarawak would be assisted with RM1,500 per person while 99 licensed tourist vehicle drivers will receive RM500 each from the Sarawak government.
All in all, Abang Johari said this measure for the tourism industry which was most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic would involve an expenditure of up to RM1.63 million.
“The pandemic has caused travel agencies in Sarawak to lose their sources of income due to the cancellation of visits by tourists and no bookings for the next six months.
“To ensure that the tourism industry survives this crisis and continues to strive, the Sarawak government will provide financial assistance on a one-off or one-time basis,” he said in a special conference at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here today.
Under the current BKSS 6.0, there were 15 measures announced altogether where nine of them involved cash incentives and the remaining six were discount incentives.
The total expenditure incurred in BKSS 6.0 is RM1.4 billion and all will be borne by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)-led government.
Since its first rollout of the financial assistance package, the Sarawak government had spent a total of RM3.1 billion from BKSS 1.0 to 5.0 since the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March, 2020. — DayakDaily
