Philippines to start offering tax refund to foreign tourists from 2024

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The Philippines has announced a new tax related program to boost tourism in the country. As per the news reports, President Ferdinand Marcos has approved a value-added tax refund programme for foreign tourists by 2024 to attract more visitors. The same was conveyed by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
For the record, the government collects a 12% VAT on goods consumed within the Southeast Asian country, and now the plan is to allow foreigners to get a VAT refund on items they are taking out of the Philippines. This move is in line with what many other countries are offering.

The PCO released a statement stating that the measure is among the proposals a private sector advisory council presented to Marcos to boost the tourism industry, including improving airport infrastructure and operations and promoting tourism investment.

Read More : Philippines reopening on February 10 to vaccinated travellers from countries including UAE
If reports are to go by, Marcos has also approved the launch of an online visa this year for Chinese, South Korean, Indian, and Japanese tourists.

With the opening for international travel, Philippines has managed to record 2.65 million international visitors last year, which brought an estimate of $3.68 billion in revenue, thereby exceeding its 2022 target of 1.7 million tourists. These records are as per the Department of Tourism.

If last year’s numbers are taken into account, 2.02 million foreign nationals and more than 6 lakh Filipinos based abroad, which compared with only 163,879 tourists recorded in 2021, was still significantly lower than the pre-pandemic annual level of 8.26 million. The government is now aiming to boost visitor arrivals this year to 4.8 million tourists.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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