THE Penang government will reimpose the hotel fees from July 1 this year after waiving the charges for the past two years.
State Tourism and Creative Committee (Petace) chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said the decision was made following the influx of tourists to the state since the reopening of the country’s borders on April 1 and the revival of tourism activities in the state.
He added that the hotel fees would be charged like before, at RM3 per night for hotels rated four stars and above, and RM2 per night for hotels rated three stars and below, including dormitories, budget hotels and hostels.
“We’ve been stepping up our tourism activities since the reopening of the country’s borders on April 1, 2022 and the number of tourist arrivals to the state has been highly encouraging.
“The hotel fees are one of the most important sources of income for the state to assist in the promotion, marketing and development of the tourism sector.
“The collection of hotel fees will resume on July 1 this year,” Yeoh told a press conference in Komtar today.
The hotel fees, which started in 2014, were waived since June 2020 to help the tourism industry recover after it was badly hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yeoh said the average collection could be RM5 million per year.
Also present at the press conference were Penang Hoteliers Association chairman Datuk Lim Mee Lee, Malaysian Hotel Association Penang chairman Tony Goh, and Malaysian Budget & Business Hotel Association Penang chairman Andy Lau.
All of them were supportive of the state government’s move to reinstate the collection of hotel fees, which are borne by the hotel guests.
Goh said his association had a discussion and they felt the time was right now to collect the hotel fees again.
“It’s not a burden to the clients. It is necessary for us to have more funds to promote Penang as the preferred destination,” Goh commented.
Lim said he hoped the state government would use the amount collected to attract more international tourists to further boost tourism.
For Lau, he said his association has also decided to give its full support to the state government.
“All the tourists had since January this year been enjoying no hotel fees. It is our duty to help and support the state government to collect the fees.
“The fees are a reasonable amount to help Penang tourism. We have also witnessed how much effort Petace has been putting in, for instance, to help connect the flights,” Lau said.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Alissala Thian