OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 11.45am.
GOVERNMENT’S decision against imposing a hotel levy to fund tourism should give the accommodation industry a welcome boost.
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said he turned down a request for such a dedicated levy from the Tourism Department because it would further fragment tourism promotion, was not market-related and would circumvent the budgetary process.
He said it would be better to allocate extra to tourism promotion from the main budget and this would be done in future.
Instead, it was decided to raise the low tax on international departures at SA airports. With the new levy to come into effect from November 1, departure taxes should bring in R112.5m for the State this fiscal year and R270m the next.
The Tourism Department’s budget has already risen sharply by R106.2m to R237.1m this year.