Inbound travel agents experiencing brisk business due to tax holiday

Tourists in Ipoh's old quarter.

KUALA LUMPUR: Inbound travel agents (ITA) have been experiencing brisk business due to zero-rating of the Goods & Services Tax (GST) since June 1, 2018, Maybank Investment Bank (IB) Research said. 

The research house said ITAs revealed that Malaysia is at its most cost-competitive in years, as there is currently zero GST on accommodation, food and beverage, airfares, entrance fees and transportation.

While the Sales & Services Tax (SST) will be imposed on the tourism sector come September 2018, ITAs are cajoling price-sensitive visitors to visit Malaysia before it comes into effect, and thereby, creating a window of opportunity during the tax holiday period, it said.

“ITAs also report that they have received more inquiries from China after a dive boat capsized in Phuket earlier this month and claimed 47 lives,” it noted.

Total visitor arrivals during the first four months of the year, excluding Singaporeans, grew 10% year-on-year, driven largely by more Chinese visitor arrivals, which surged 37% on-year. 

It said recent flight bookings also indicated continued on-year growth in Chinese visitor arrivals. 

The research house has Buy calls on AirAsia, AirAsia X, Genting, Genting Malaysia, Atlan Holdings, IGB REIT, Sunway REIT, Yong Tai and YTL Hospitality REIT.