Malaysia Might Have Lost Over 300,000 Tourists in October 2017 Due to Tourism Tax

These recent statistics are pretty alarming to say the least!

According to Free Malaysia Today, Pahang PKR Youth chief Wong Chun Yuan voiced his concerns over Malaysia’s tourism industry after looking through statistics handed to him from someone in the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

Wong stated at a press conference at PKR’s headquarters today (20th December) that statistics show a decline of 329,418 tourists (14 per cent) in October, which was a month after the tourism tax was implemented. This brought the total number of tourists visiting Malaysia to 1,997,069.

Source: fmt

This decline is in stark contrast with October 2015, when there was a reported 11 per cent (243,621) increase in tourists compared to September 2015! Wong stated,

“I tried to obtain the statistics from the My Tourism Data webpage recently but could not find them, so I called Tourism Malaysia for the September and October statistics. I was told that they had the statistics with them but were not allowed to share it with the public.”

This was why Wong had to rely on an inside source from the ministry.

What’s even more worrying is that these supposed tourism statistics would make it the first time that Malaysia has had less than 2 million visitors since June 2015!

Source: the star

Now, he wants the Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Aziz to come forward about these statistics.

The Pahang PKR Youth chief continued, saying that the statistics were also alarming for youths in Pahang, since losing tourists in the state can negatively affect small and medium enterprises, which can lead many of them to work outstation.

Meanwhile, the party’s youth information chief Lee Chean Chun also stated that Pahang, along with Perak and Terengganu, were being promoted for tourism this year and that a total of RM5 million was allocated for tourism purposes in Pahang, saying,

“Tourism Pahang also set up a campaign to sell VIP (Visit Pahang) licence plates, and this helped them rake in RM10 million. That’s RM15 million all together. Where has that money gone now?”

As for now, it looks like we’ll have to wait and see what the Tourism and Culture Minister has to say in response to these alarming statistics!

Also read: Tourism Tax Not Implemented Yet But 3,000 Chinese Tourists Already Cancelling Trip