Have confidence in ringgit, Motac tells tourism players

SUBANG JAYA - The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry of (Motac) has called on players in the tourism industry to continue using the Malaysian currency confidently when charging tourists for accommodation and services.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said if they use the United States currency (USD), it does not guarantee that it will continue to be strong to benefit the industry.

"...we must have confidence in our own country and must remember that the USD is strong now but we don’t know how long the value of this currency will last, who knows one day everyone will no longer want to use this currency... what will happen (then)?

"This is because we know that in some countries, the USD is no longer strong because some banks have collapsed. We understand this situation (the value of the ringgit has decreased against the USD) and that is why Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is doing his best to resolve this issue,” he said at the anniversary celebration of the Malaysian Budget and Business Hotel Association (MyBHA) here today.

He said this following a request from the Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners (Maho) who wanted to charge room rates in USD.

He called on the people to work with the government to promote Malaysia and woo investors to this country.

On June 20, Maho president Teo Chiang Hong called for hotels to raise room rates for more revenue and consider charging tourists in USD to mitigate higher costs from minimum wage increases, overtime pay and electricity charges.

In another development, Tiong said RM100,000 has been allocated to MyBHA to help members of the association hold courses or dialogues.

Tiong also informed that Motac will re-examine the requirements of the Malaysia Second Home Initiative (MM2H) by proposing to create three application categories "of platinum, gold and silver where each has different sets of requirements.” - BERNAMA