“The ministry is flexible on the date. If hotel operators cannot make it on July 1, we will defer it to August instead. It depends.”
Nazri told FMT the mechanism will be based on the ratings of the hotel.
“Hotel operators can multiply the tax (based on their ratings) with the number of rooms they manage to let out for the night.
“We will not charge them based on percentage,” Nazri said.
He said the ministry will only collect the earnings on the tax once every three months.
The Malaysian Association of Hotels had recently questioned the details of the mechanism to impose the tourism tax, saying it was impossible for hotel operators to start charging the tax from July 1.
The tourism tax is fixed and charged on a per-room, per-night basis.
The tax is RM2.50 for non-rated hotels. RM5 for two-star, RM10 for three-star, RM15 for four-star and RM20 for five-star.
When winding up debate on the Tourism Tax Bill in the Dewan Rakyat on April 6, Nazri said the tax would be able to bring in an income of about RM654.62 million if there was a 60% occupancy rate at the more than 11 million hotel rooms in the country.
He had said the tax will be used to improve tourism facilities and promote Malaysia overseas.