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.
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