KOTA KINABALU, Nov. 3 -- The Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Satta) has urged Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) to reconsider the new hotel licence fees, describing them as excessively burdensome and detrimental to the city's tourism growth.

Satta chairman Datuk Seri Winston Liaw said the revised rates currently imposed by DBKK are RM4.65 per room per night for Category 1 hotels, RM2.65 for Category 2 and RM1.30 for Category 3.

He said the charges apply to occupied rooms, forcing hoteliers to absorb the increased cost - which will inevitably be passed on to tourists.

"The old licence fee was only RM10 per room per annum regardless of category. Under the new structure, the increase amounts to as much as 10,000 per cent," Liaw ...