Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (Mita) president Mint Leong said this surge in operational costs followed the increase in the price of diesel from RM2.15 per litre to RM3.35 effective yesterday.

“If hearses can be subsidised, why not tour buses ferrying tourists, which bring in money for the country,” she said after handing a memorandum to the tourism, arts and culture ministry’s deputy secretary-general, Yusri Yusoff.

Leong, who was joined by 60 operators and Mita members outside the ministry’s headquarters here, said each tour bus uses about 3,800 litres of diesel a month.

She said these bus operators would be forced to hike their prices to absorb the higher operating costs, warning that this could affect the Visit Malaysia Year 2026 campaign in turn.

She also said that some tour packages offered by operators had been booked by tourists at lower prices, before the price of diesel went up.

At a press conference earlier today, transport minister Loke Siew Fook maintained that Putrajaya had no plans to extend the subsidies to tour bus operators given that their clients are mostly foreign tourists.

He also said no operator can raise prices without first informing the Land Public Transport Agency (Apad).