KUCHING: The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) welcomes the announcement by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on the additional RM10 billion for the Prihatin Rakyat economic stimulus package.
MATTA describes it as a positive move by the government to cushion the impact of Covid-19, which had affected small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially those in the tourism sector.
The additional assistance includes increase in the wage subsidy programme, which has been divided into three tiers - RM600 for companies with more than 200 employees; RM800 for companies employing 76 to 200 people; and RM1,200 for companies with one to 76 employees.
"The majority of travel and tour companies are in the third tier with less than 76 employees and the new wages subsidy tiering will help to ease company cash flow problems and help retain more employees, " said its president Datuk Tan Kok Liang.
"In addition, MATTA also welcomes the decision by the government to urge leasing companies to offer a six-month moratorium similar to that provided by banks.
"This is a much needed relief because based on feedback many leasing companies are still asking for repayments because they do not fall under the same category as banks.
"A six-month moratorium for leasing companies would help many tourism businesses, travel agencies who own tourism vehicles in particular, tide over this difficult period when business and income are virtually nil," Tan said in a statement yesterday.
A recent survey conducted by MATTA amongst its members indicated a retrenchment rate of close to 30 per cent of the travel agency workforce over the coming months, of which it was expected that it would take more than a year for tourism to fully recover from the global Covid-19 crisis.
To date, it stated that 40 per cent of travel agency employees had been asked to take unpaid leave and nearly 40 per cent had to accept paycuts, with many travel businesses considering closing their doors within the next two months.
As such, Tan hoped that the government would reassess the wages subsidy programme to allow it for six months or more because the tourism industry would take much longer to recover post Covid-19.
"In our earlier submissions to the government, MATTA had also asked that the private sector be allowed to stop contributions to agencies such as the Employees Provident Fun d (EPF), Socso and payment for income tax for a six-month period.
"We hope the government could consider these requests to help the private sector survive over this difficult period. Similar requests were also submitted by other SME organisations, " he added.