UNWTO Secretary General Dr. Taleb Rifai has once again spoken out about plans by the African Union to load additional taxes on air transport and hospitality businesses and the potentially devastating consequences for the continent’s tourism sector such taxes could have.
Tourism ministers meeting at the 56th Commission for Africa meeting organized by the UNWTO in Luanda / Angola three weeks ago were equally expressing their own concerns that such a move was one into the wrong direction.
Besides the African Union have individual governments began to tax the two sectors and as a result have some countries, like Kenya, seen a downturn in tourism fortunes – there for a number of other reasons too but accelerated by the fact that VAT on tourism services has made the destination considerably more expensive.
AFRAA, the African Airline Association, in their just concluded 3rd Convention for Aviation Suppliers and Stakeholders, has also added their voice about the overtaxing of airlines which gave competitive advantages to foreign airlines not subject to such taxes, setting back the development of a potentially thriving aviation industry in Africa.
Below is the full statement received from UNWTO issued, outlining the potential dangers to introducing such taxes.
  |
| Press Release |
