By Zareef Muzammil
SHAH ALAM, Nov 22 — Tourism industry operators hope that a RM1 million financial assistance grant to revive the sector that has been badly affected by Covid-19 will be extended in the 2022 Selangor Budget (#Selangor2022).
Selangor’s Malaysian Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (Matta) chairman said such an incentive should be continued in order to intensify the promotion of tourism activities in the state and abroad.
“Now that tourism activities are allowed, we ask the Selangor government to consider resuming this assistance so that we can carry out promotional activities locally and abroad.
“This grant has really helped us (tourism sector players), but for now it cannot be used to promote tourism outside of Selangor,” said Gopalan Mariappan when contacted today.
On June 9, Selangor Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari announced an allocation of RM2.55 million to help the tourism industry after it was gravely affected by the pandemic.
The initiatives contained in the Kita Selangor Package 2.0 included financial assistance grants, state-sponsored tourism vouchers, training programmes for tour agencies, as well as a one-off cash aid incentive to 16 tourism associations in Selangor.
The incentive comes in the form of reimbursable financial assistance and is given to tourism operators who carry out promotional activities to revitalise the sector.