Mita Honorary Secretary-General Adam Kamal told FMT that the levy to be charged was reasonable and minimal.

“In some places overseas, such levies are collected on a per person basis and not per room night,” he said in commenting on reports that the council would impose a tourist levy ranging from RM1 to RM9 effective July 1.

Adam hoped to see more public toilets and proper jetties for tourists going island hopping to places like Pulau Dayang Bunting and Pulau Beras Basah.

“We want to draw more foreign tourists and they are very particular about basic amenities such as clean toilets.”

Alex Lee, the chief executive officer of a travel agency, Ping Anchorage, said the imposition of the levy was a good idea as it would help the council maintain and improve tourism sites and infrastructure.

However, he said in light of the economic slowdown, the council should consider postponing the imposition of the levy for a year or so.

“If the council is set on implementing it, they should use the money for environmental conservation in areas popular with tourists.

“They could also spend the money on cultural and heritage preservation as well as tourism infrastructure.”

For Akquasun Holidays owner K Jeevanathan, the imposition of a levy was a standard practice.

He opined that the council should spend the revenue on new attractions, such as an annual event to pull more people to the island.

“Perhaps the council can organise a big adventure or marathon event that can become an annual feature for the island.”

Earlier today, it was reported that the council would impose a levy on tourists for every day of their stay on the resort island.

Tourists staying in one-star or two-star hotels would be charged RM1 per room per night; three-star or four-star accommodation, RM3; five-star accommodation, RM5; six-star accommodation, RM7; and seven-star accommodation, RM9.

Langkawi received nearly 3.6 million visitors last year.