Local hoteliers back tax reform

MANILA, Philippines - A group of local hotel owners is banking on the government’s tax reform proposal to raise revenue, which can be used to develop tourism-related infrastructure across the country

Arthur Lopez, president of the Philippine Hotel Owners Association (PHOA), said implementing the Department of Finance’s proposed Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) would help address the country’s infrastructure gap, which is key to achieving the country’s 12 million foreign arrival goal by 2022.

“For our association, it’s very important that we have this tax reform. Personally, I’m endorsing it because we need the infrastructure – the ports, roads, railways and other facilities which the tourism industry depends on,” Lopez said.

The industry leader said these roads and facilities are needed to make tourist destinations more accessible to the tourists.

Lopez said local hotel owners have expressed willingness to expand their hotel business outside Metro Manila, but the lack of infrastructure prevented them from doing so.

This has, he said, hindered the growth of the Philippine tourism sector, which continues to lag behind its Southeast Asian neighbors.

“So our ultimate goal is to increase tourism. And it’s been really (behind) compared to the other countries in the ASEAN region,” he said.

In 2016, the country welcomed roughly 5.97 million foreign visitors, just slightly short of its six million total arrival target for the year.

Under the Department of Tourism’s National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP), the government aims to increase foreign arrivals to 12 million by the end of the Duterte administration. The Philippines also targets to reach 89 million domestic arrivals, and earn P3.9 trillion in tourism receipts by 2022.

Earlier, Finance Undersecretary Grace Karen Singson said the Philippines would need to invest $23 billion in tourism infrastructure until 2022 to achieve these goals.

The PHOA is a non-profit organization composed of owners of the country’s major hotels, resorts, tourist inns, pension houses, serviced apartment and other accommodations.