"The provision of charging a 13 percent additional tax on air tickets for foreign visits makes it challenging to afford international trips when the international travel fare is already expensive and it is capable of affecting the travel and tour business," NATTA Chair Ramesh Thapa said in a press statement today.
He said the decision to levy additional 13 percent VAT on air tickets for foreign travel is applied when its process is made from Nepal and it is not charged while proceeding for tickets from abroad. "The domestic tour and travel business is certain to be marred by the decision when it is struggling to make through a post-COVID-19 situation. The decision hampers recovery efforts after the pandemic." Thapa further argued the decision to impose an additional two percent luxury tax on services of high-end hotels and restaurants was not expected at all. However, NATTA welcomed the government decision to observe the period from 2023-2032 as a visiting year. The priorities to the constructions of the Nijgadh Airport, other airports, revival of cultural heritages, identification on new touristic destinations and acceleration of infrastructure development are other positive aspects of the budget. The decision to allocate an additional over 2.5 billion budgets to the tourism sector than in the current fiscal year encourages the related community.
