German tax under fire
December 20, 2010 by Paphada Apimonton
Filed under News
BANGKOK, 20 December 2010 – World Travel and Tourism Council has warned Germany that a new air passenger tax could injure the country’s outbound tourism industry negating any benefits the tax might deliver, the organisation stated Sunday.
The new air passenger tax will be apply for all airline departures from Germany, 1 January 2011. Air Berlin and Ryanair have both indicated they will cut capacity and services from the country next summer. The tax aims to raise EU1 billion annually. The taxes are EU8, EU25 and EU45 for short-haul, mid-range and long-haul trips.
Lao travel tax extends to neighbours
BANGKOK, 8 December 2010 – A surprise decision by Laos to introduce a US$2 travel tax on foreign visitors also extends to a US$1 levy on border pass travellers, mainly rural traders who cross the border daily to sell agricultural goods in Laos.
The inclusion of border pass travellers in the travel tax was confirmed by a LTMB statement posted on the TTR Weekly’s website Tuesday.
The travel tax has been approved as a revenue earning component of the recently formed Laos Tourism Marketing Board. According to LTMB legislation, the tax would be used to fund overseas promotions to drive more tourists to the land-locked country. Read more
First class way to cutting poverty
UNITED NATIONS, 21 September 2010 – For the past four years, French business- and first-class air travellers have been paying more than US$50 each toward the cost of the fight against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis each time they get on a jet.
Most have probably not noticed.
Even economy travellers on French jets on trips within Europe pay just over one dollar to the special multi-national fund.
US ready to tax travellers
August 10, 2010 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News
HAWAII, 8 August 2010 – The Department of Homeland Security announced last Friday that it will begin collecting fees on travellers from Visa Waiver countries beginning 8 September 2010.
According to yesterday’s ETurboNew news bulletin, travellers will be charged a US$14 fee when applying for an Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA).
A portion of the fee gained from tourists will be ploughed back into the Corporation for Travel Promotion, the US version of a tourism bureau established under the 2009 Travel Promotion Act.
UK ditches Air Passenger Duty
The UK will ditch its unpopular Air Passenger Duty replacing it with a scheme that taxes airlines per aircraft as part of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition agreement announced 11 March.
The two political parties, that make up the first coalition government to rule in the UK since 1945, hammered out a a benchmark agreement on policy. One of points under tax measures stated that the parties had agreed to transfer the duty from the passenger to the aircraft.
