The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) has submitted a budget proposal to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and the Ministry of Finance to assert a major revamp of the National Budget 2023.

Its president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said the proposal was to strengthen Malaysian tourism businesses in facing global economic concerns.

"From 2009 to 2019, international tourist arrivals ranged between 23.65 million and 26.1 million, indicating that Malaysia remains a largely static tourism destination.

"It is evident that earlier national budgets were ineffective in boosting the country's tourism sector," Tan said in a statement.

He said budget financing must be more focused on destination-visibility advertising, the enhancement of tourist products and infrastructure while providing enough assistance for stakeholders to strengthen post Covid 19.

"Additional initiatives are required to promote domestic tourism, as a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels is not anticipated until 2024/25," he said in a statement.

Matta is proposing to establish an independent Tourism Recovery and Growth Fund to assist tourism businesses upgrade their facilities and service infrastructure; and a Digital Promotions Matching Grant and Overseas Promotions Funding to compensate for the weakened Malaysian currency.

The association has also proposed double deductions for corporate companies to hold staff incentive trips and holidays for their employees within the country.

"For individual taxpayers, we propose a tax relief of RM5,000 for them and families to spend on domestic travel within Malaysia to further enhance domestic tourism," he said.

For the industry players, the association suggested that all excise taxes be waived when new, locally-made tourism vehicles are purchased.

"This will not only benefit local vehicle manufacturers but also enable tourism operators to rebuild fleet capacity quickly to meet the anticipated demand as tourism recovers," said Tan.

In addition, MATTA suggested that import taxes on luxury vehicles built abroad be waived because it would help ensure that tourism vehicles could adapt to changing client tastes.

"KLIA should also have a new satellite (building) so that there is an efficient mobility of passengers from terminal to terminal because the current state of the aerotrain service and the backup bus service leaves much to be desired," Tan said.