The Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA) hosted a webinar for tourism members on the Fiji annual national budget which covered areas that had impacted the industry.
According to a statement from the association these areas included the Short Life Investment Package as a hotel investment incentive, the VAT monitoring system, Customs Tariff Act and the Environment and Climate Adaptation
Levy.
“Tourism contributed $3 billion in taxes and foreign exchange earnings in 2019 and the industry, while fully aware of the impact of the pandemic on our economy, understands that it can make huge inroads to reducing this impact and being the impetus towards positive economic growth again,” said FHTA chief executive officer Fantasha Lockington.
The awareness session which was held last week Friday was in collaboration with the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS).
The association held discussions on changes in taxation and Customs policies as announced in Government’s recent national budget.
Attendees were also stated to have taken the opportunity to get clarifications and responses to their queries on the budget.
FHTA said it was in constant dialogue with the FRCS senior management team and the FRCS Board leading up to, and post the budget announcement.
It organised the webinar as an opportunity for stakeholders to gain better insight and awareness of the supportive policies and incentives which could get the industry and its supply chains reopening-ready.
FHTA stated government had set a tentative border reopening date for December 1, 2021 with the tourism industry eager to collaborate on the reopening framework which would guide this process.”
