“What we want to do right now is revisit that (travel tax) and make a tourist development fund specifically for departure,” said Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) chief operating officer Pocholo Paragas.
The Philippine government is studying a measure to impose a US$9 (P500) tourist fee to replace the current US$30 travel tax.
“What we want to do right now is revisit that (travel tax) and make a tourist development fund specifically for departure,” said Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) chief operating officer Pocholo Paragas.
Philippine law mandates passengers who are leaving the country irrespective of the place where the air ticket is issued and the form or place of payment are required to pay a US$30 travel tax of P1,620 for economy class and US$50 for business and first class.
The travel tax is imposed only on Philippine citizens travelling overseas. Exempted from the tax are overseas Filipino workers and Filipinos who are permanent residents in foreign countries.
The tourist fee will cover all travellers departing the Philippines including foreign tourists.
The tourist fee will go to a Tourist Development Fund (TDF) that will be used for the improvement and development of infrastructure for tourists visiting the country.
Paragas said the US$9 fee would also lessen the burden on Filipinos currently paying the more expensive travel tax.
Paragas said he has also requested that the allocation for the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) from the travel tax be scrapped to give TIEZA more funds.
TIEZA is the government agency in charge of collecting travel taxes. But under the law, it only receives 50% of the collection, while CHED gets 40% and NCCA 10%.