SEPANG, May 16 — The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (Kuskop) through the Cooperatives Commission of Malaysia (SKM) has allocated RM2 million for this year’s Jom Jelajah Koperasi Programme (Jejak) incentive as initial support to mobilise cooperatives in the tourism sector.
Minister of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Datuk Ewon Benedick said the incentive for the cooperatives roadshow was to stimulate cooperatives in their preparations ahead of Visit Malaysia Year 2026 which is expected to attract 26.1 million tourists.
He said the incentive aims to ensure that cooperatives specifically involved in the tourism industry can be positioned as a preferred business model to compete with bigger players in the tourism industry and increase the income of cooperatives that can indirectly benefit its members.
“This initial support is to heighten the level of enthusiasm and motivation of the cooperatives preparing to face Visit Malaysia Year 2026.
“If it is well received and gives a big return to the cooperatives involved, then next year we will carefully add special incentives to the tourism sector,” he told members of the media after the opening ceremony of Jejak at Banghuris Homestay activity centre in Kg Hulu Chuchoh here today.
Also present were the secretary-general of Kuskop, Datuk Seri Suriani Ahmad and SKM chairman Lt General (Rtd) Datuk Ahmad Norihan Jalal.
Ewon said there are currently 215 cooperatives involved in the tourism industry which can benefit from the incentive to provide services that are as good to compete with other providers such as resort operators, hotels, cafes and large companies.
He said in addition to Jejak, cooperatives can apply for assistance to expand operations and services through the SKM Development Assistance fund of RM6.75 million and Revolving Capital Fund (TMP-SKM) of RM100 million.
The Jejak incentive targets the involvement of 160 cooperatives that carry out business activities under the hospitality, healthcare and handicraft industries.
Eligible cooperatives receiving the incentive can provide discounts on packages or business products of up to 30 per cent.
Through the incentive, SKM is targeting a total of 20,000 tourists comprising Malaysians and foreign tourists to benefit from the package offered by the cooperative.
In 2023, cooperative membership was 7.22 million people with a total of 15,809 registered cooperatives and assets of RM165.89 billion, shares and fees of RM17.44 billion and revenue of RM64.56 billion.
The achievement in revenue of RM64.56 billion in 2023 already exceeded the Malaysia Cooperative Policy (DaKoM 2030) 2025 target of RM60 billion. — Bernama
