One of the issues of the Tourism Committee, held at the Georgian Business Association last week, was introduction of tourism tax.
The initiative is only an idea at the moment, but it is planned to be discussed with the National Tourism Administration and the private sector.
The Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the Association, Giorgi Mari says that in the case of tax introduction, the main issue will be the proper management of the accumulated funds.
According to him, the most acceptable model will be if the local tourism development organizations are involved in this issue. At the same time, Giorgi Mari says that the accumulated funds will be used for the development of tourism infrastructure, which will ultimately bring good to the industry.
However, the private sector dose not approve the initiative of imposing a new tax on travelers.
Vato Asatashvili, the founder of Heliski Georgia, says that the main problem will be the transparent management of the funds accumulated in the form of taxes. According to him, the reality of Georgia is not ready for the mentioned taxes today.
"There are some expectations that some income will be generated with this tax. However, in our reality this is absolutely unacceptable. For example, the COVID-Fund, where a considerable amount of money was accumulated and no one from the state did not present the transparency and purposefulness of spending these funds. We can face this problem even in the case of tourism tax. The introduction of such tax will create a problem in the distribution and spending of the accumulated amount. Moreover, if such tax is imposed, the state will create a LEPL or NNLE, a fund or organization where tens or hundreds of people will be employed. All these will be an additional burden for taxpayers," said Vato Asatashvili, the founder of Heliski Georgia.
Nika Manjgaladze, the founder of the travel company TRAVELSHOP declares, that introduction of a tourism tax will make travel more expensive for visitors.
According to him, along with the increase in costs for tourists, part of the enforcement will also be problematic, as it will be difficult to withdraw the relevant funds from a number of small and medium-sized hotels.
"The hotel is already expensive for tourists amid pandemic and they mainly prefer to rent an apartment. This tax will be additional pressure. I am sure the fee will be a maximum of 5-6 EUR per traveler in a day, however it is still an additional fee. This is a very difficult topic in terms of implementation as well, how can the state or the agency withdraw money from hotels, which are not part of the international network, "- said Nika Manjgaladze, the founder of TRAVELSHOP.
