NATTA draws Finance Minister’s attention over airfare becoming expensive

KATHMANDU: Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) has called the attention of Finance Minister towards airfare becoming expensive due to the imposition of value added tax (VAT). A delegation led by NATTA President Ramesh Thapa met with Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat on Wednesday and demanded the government withdraw its decision to levy VAT on air tickets, citing that imposition of VAT through the budget for the fiscal year 2023/24 has made the air tickets costlier. "When the domestic and international airfare in Nepal are already expensive, the addition of VAT has made the air tickets exorbitantly expensive in the present situation, and there is the possibility of tourist arrivals falling down, and the prospective foreign tourists opting for travelling to airports in Bagdogra, Gorakhpur among other airports in India due to their proximity to Nepal border and the high airfare in Nepal," Thapa said. He argued that the decision of imposing VAT on airfare will have a serious impact on the government's goal of bringing more than one million tourists to Nepal in the upcoming fiscal year. NATTA representatives said the imposition of VAT in Nepal will make the air tickets issued by Nepali travel agencies more expensive while it will be cheaper to book tickets online and in foreign countries. This will impel foreign tourists to book air tickets from foreign countries, resulting in loss of foreign currency earnings and an increased risk of the government losing the tax it has been getting from the travel agencies and the loss of employment provided by the latter. NATTA has also called for a change in the provision of Nepali citizens having to purchase package tours from the foreign currency facility that one gets while going on a foreign tour. In the meeting, Finance Minister Mahat expressed the commitment that the government will take measures so that tourism entrepreneurs will not face problems in the development of tourism sector in Nepal. By RSS READ ALSO:

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