The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proposed the Governmenthalve value-added tax (VAT) and exempt or cut corporate income tax by 50percent for enterprises joining a planned tourism promotion programmein the last three months of this year and throughout next year, theSaigon Times Daily reported.
The ministry made the proposal tohelp the local tourism sector ride out difficulties and compete withrivals in regional countries. Currently, prices of tourism products andservices in Vietnam are higher than in regional markets where manytravel stimulus programmes have been launched, and this has eroded thecompetitiveness of local travel enterprises and put a dent in thedevelopment of the sector.
Besides the tax exemption andreduction proposal, the ministry is seeking special policies from theGovernment to speed up infrastructure development for the tourismindustry and ensure safety for tourists.
The ministry plans toimplement the national tourism promotion programme later this year andnext in order to woo more domestic and international tourists, drum uptourism products by offering discounts in low seasons and create newproducts for the tourism sector.
Many domestic travel firms haveinitiated their own promotion programmes. However, they are stillexpecting support from the Government in terms of taxes so as to furthercut prices of their products and services to attract more touristsgiven protracted difficulties at home and rising regional competition.
According to a travel firm, the current corporate income tax rate applicable to the tourism sector is 22 percent.
TheGovernment used to apply similar tax reductions in 2009 for thecompanies joining the then national travel promotion programme entitled“Impressive Vietnam”, with VAT cut by half and corporate income taxpayments delayed by nine months.
International visitor arrivalsin Vietnam in the year to September had picked up over 10.4 percentagainst last year’s same period to 6.06 million, according to theGeneral Statistics office. There were 32.4 million domestic tourists inthe period, up 7.6 percent year-on-year.-VNA
The ministry made the proposal tohelp the local tourism sector ride out difficulties and compete withrivals in regional countries. Currently, prices of tourism products andservices in Vietnam are higher than in regional markets where manytravel stimulus programmes have been launched, and this has eroded thecompetitiveness of local travel enterprises and put a dent in thedevelopment of the sector.
Besides the tax exemption andreduction proposal, the ministry is seeking special policies from theGovernment to speed up infrastructure development for the tourismindustry and ensure safety for tourists.
The ministry plans toimplement the national tourism promotion programme later this year andnext in order to woo more domestic and international tourists, drum uptourism products by offering discounts in low seasons and create newproducts for the tourism sector.
Many domestic travel firms haveinitiated their own promotion programmes. However, they are stillexpecting support from the Government in terms of taxes so as to furthercut prices of their products and services to attract more touristsgiven protracted difficulties at home and rising regional competition.
According to a travel firm, the current corporate income tax rate applicable to the tourism sector is 22 percent.
TheGovernment used to apply similar tax reductions in 2009 for thecompanies joining the then national travel promotion programme entitled“Impressive Vietnam”, with VAT cut by half and corporate income taxpayments delayed by nine months.
International visitor arrivalsin Vietnam in the year to September had picked up over 10.4 percentagainst last year’s same period to 6.06 million, according to theGeneral Statistics office. There were 32.4 million domestic tourists inthe period, up 7.6 percent year-on-year.-VNA
