Weekend shopping gets Budget boost

The proposed abolishing of import duties on 300 preferred consumer items, including apparel, handbags, shoes, shampoo, suits and lingerie, will serve to boost Penang as a shopping hub for the region. In the last three years, Penang has gained popularity as a weekend destination for tourists and the abolishing of duty on the 300 items from next year will attract more regional tourists to the island. Malaysian Association of Hotels, Penang chapter chairman Marco Battistotti, said that it was good news for the tourism sector. "It will further position Penang as a shopping hub in the northern region," he said when commenting on the 2011 Budget announced on Friday, Battistotti said Penang already has a strong medical tourism market and now that it is becoming a popular weekend getaway, shopping will become an even bigger part of the state's attraction. "We are already getting weekend tourists from this region, such as Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Macau, so more may come here to shop now," he said. He also welcomed the RM85 million allocation for infrastructure facilities for hotels and resorts in remote areas. While this may not directly benefit Penang, a boost in tourism in remote areas like in Perlis or Kedah may also indirectly bring in tourists to the state, he noted. Meanwhile, Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda) Penang branch chairman Datuk Jerry Chan said the My First House Scheme may spur some developers to come up with housing projects with units costing less than RM220,000, but the prices of property on the island are still dependent on market demands. He said the scheme may help to lower housing prices in Penang and make homes more affordable, especially for young families. However, only those buying houses on the mainland will be able to benefit. "The scheme will serve to help those who arebuying their first homes on the Seberang Perai side as the housing prices could still qualify under the scheme," he said. On the stamp duty exemption of 50% for loan agreement instruments, Chan said this measure will help ease the burden for buyers of low-cost and low-to-medium-cost houses. Under the My First House Scheme proposed in 2011 Budget, first-time buyers of houses costing less than RM220,000 with incomes of less than RM3,000 a month need not pay the 10% downpayment, which will be guaranteed by Cagamas Bhd.