Resolve tourism issues or risk jeopardising VMY 2026 campaign, govt told

PETALING JAYA: A hotel association has called on Putrajaya to resolve the various issues affecting the hospitality industry, including regulating short-term rental accommodations.

The Malaysian Budget and Business Hotels Association (MyBHA) said failure to address these issues risked jeopardising the Visit Malaysia Year 2026 campaign.

In a statement, the association’s president Sri Ganesh Michiel said the lack of a robust regulatory framework for short-term rental accommodations (STRA) encouraged unfair competition.

“It also tarnishes the reputation of the hospitality industry.”

On Nov 25, deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said new guidelines to regulate STRA would be presented to the Cabinet.

Zahid said the guidelines would simplify licensing, ensure legal compliance and address community concerns such as noise, parking shortages and waste, Bernama reported.

Ganesh also said there was a need for the government to regulate online travel agencies or OTAs.

OTAs, he said, operated in a manner that “often lacks transparency and jeopardises the sustainability and competitiveness of local businesses”.

He then repeated a call to revamp the method of tourism tax collection, insisting that the duties be collected at the country’s entry or exit points rather than hotels.

Putrajaya, Ganesh said, must take these issues seriously and engage industry stakeholders to resolve them.

“Failure to achieve this (resolve the issues) will not only compromise the campaign’s (Visit Malaysia Year 2026) credibility but also lead to revenue leakage, adversely affecting the nation’s economy.”