The Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture and the Ghana Tourism Authority are hopeful that the Ministry of Finance will consider providing tax reliefs in the mid-year budget review for operators in the sector following a paper they presented on the issue.
According to the two entities, poised to make tourism the number one GDP earner in the country, they believe a flat tax rate regime will be the way to go in maintaining and sustaining gains made in the tourism sector over the years.
In an interview on the sidelines of the 2024 first-quarter Public-Private Partnership Forum to help bridge the funding gaps for SMEs in the tourism and hospitality sector in Koforidua, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyemang indicated that the tourism sector has made some good strides despite prevailing challenges.
“Looking at the data that we have, we can say that we have made a very strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Domestic tourism moved from about 900,000 in 2022 to about 1.4 million in 2023, and international arrivals ended 2023 at 1.140 million, which compares favourably to the 2019 figure, which was the Year of Return.
“We have seen some resilience and growth, and we have seen that we are making some strides, but we cannot do it all alone, and we need the issue of the multiplicity of levies and taxes paid to various agencies to be addressed. So, we have presented a paper to the Ministry of Finance, and we are hoping that those taxes and levies will be addressed in the Mid-year Budget.”
Mr. Agyemang, touching on the theme, “Financial Empowerment for the Tourism and Hospitality Sector,” said a flat tax rate regime would be beneficial to the tourism sector if approved by the government.
