KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — The special individual income tax relief of up to RM1,000, as announced under Budget 2026, is part of the government’s efforts to encourage Malaysians to travel within the country in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM2026).
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said it would not only invigorate domestic tourism, but stimulate local economic activity.
He added that the initiative could rebalance the trend of outbound tourism, which has increased thanks to a stronger ringgit.
“Due to the strengthening of the ringgit, there are also side effects, as more Malaysians are travelling overseas to places like Thailand, Japan and Indonesia. As such, we are introducing additional measures to boost domestic tourism by providing a tax exemption of up to RM1,000 for spending within the country,” he said during Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was replying to a supplementary question from Jimmy Puah Wee Tse (Harapan-Tebrau) on the recent influx of nearly 200,000 Malaysians to Thailand and spending around RM50 million there recently.
However, Anwar, who is also finance minister, expressed his concern over the high cost of domestic tourism, including the cost of accommodation and food at popular destinations like Langkawi.
He said this is being reviewed following discussions between Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan and Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor to seek ways to address the issue.
“When a comparison is made between Langkawi and Phuket, Thailand, the beauty of Langkawi clearly stands out because it is cleaner and more natural, but the problem is its high cost, and we must look into this,” he said.
On VM2026 promotion efforts, Anwar said 70 per cent of it will be implemented digitally, and the remaining 30 per cent conventionally.
The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) has also held engagement sessions with industry players, including airline companies, to increase flight frequencies, he added.
