KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — About 4,000 hotels nationwide have begun implementing the tourism tax for foreigners but the collection will be done manually for now, New Straits Times reported.

Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) President Sam Cheah Swee Hee was quoted by the paper saying that many hotel operators are not ready to install the collection system.

At the moment the group will be gathering feedbacks on the collection system, he added.

"As this weekend is a long holiday, we shall do a survey [starting] from Tuesday to get feedback from our members,” he told the paper yesterday.

The government announced early last month that the tourism tax was to be enforced from Friday.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s Straits Times reported that the Customs and Excise Department have given hoteliers a month to implement the tax collecting system.

"We are giving hotel operators another month. We expect all to register with us by the end of September,” its director-general Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy was quoted saying.

Subromaniam also said his department will be diplomatic in dealing with hotel operators that have yet to implement the collection system.

This is to encourage hotels and lodging operators to register, he said.

There are around 5,000 registered accommodation providers so far out of the estimated 10,000 establishments nationwide.

Bernama reported that hoteliers must display the newly introduced Tourism Tax rate separately from the room rates with the implementation of the tax.