![\"\"](\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/WinstonLiaw1.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAlthough it was aimed to provide a breathing space for the\ntourism industry players in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, but further\ndetails are needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have gone through copy of the statement but it was a bit vague, even though SATTA was happy to see the package had included our proposal to ease the cash flow,\u201d SATTA chairman Dato\u2019 Seri Winston Liaw (pic) said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe wish to thank the government for taking heed of our calls to allow for the deferment of monthly income tax installment payments for a six months period beginning from April until September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis move can really help the travel industry and other related\nbusinesses,\u201d Liaw commended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the government also provide a 15 per cent discount in\nmonthly electricity bills, which is augurs well to the industry to ease the\nburden of doing business, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To exempt Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) levies for\nhotels and travel related companies, he said this statement is unclear whether\nit is the travel agents or hotels will be exempted to contribute to HRDF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe employees had contributed 1 per cent of their salaries to HRDF, so now they don\u2019t need to contribute for six months? If that is so, this will be a good measure,\u201d Liaw said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the special relief facility worth RM2 billion given by Bank\nNegara Malaysia in a form of working capital for small medium enterprises at an\ninterest rate of 3.75 per cent, he said this measure is also quite stimulating\nas normally the interest rate is 6-7 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for the human capital development, he said the government\nwill provide double deduction on expenses incurred on approved tourism-related\ntraining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, this measure is quite ambiguous and need further\nclarification, he said, adding that does it meant the employers can claim\nRM40,000 after spending RM20,000 to conduct the training course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the personal income tax relief of up to RM1,000 on\nexpenditure related to domestic tourism, Liaw said he need to find out more\ndetails about this measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoes it mean if I go to Kuala Lumpur and paid for the tour\nfare of RM2,500 and at the end of the day I can get a refund of RM1,000,\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the RM100 digital vouchers for domestic flights, rails\nand hotel accommodations for all Malaysians, Liaw said it was not mention where\ncan the travellers get the vouchers or it is via auto deduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stimulus economic package was announced by Interim Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on February 27, 2020.-HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (SATTA) said the 2020 Economic Stimulus Package has left plenty of room for clarifications for the tourism industry players. Although it was aimed to provide a breathing space for the tourism industry players in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, but further details are needed….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions\/207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}