Boracay execs urge Apec to tackle taxation to develop, not stunt, tourism

LOCAL officials of the premier tourist destination pleaded to delegates of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) to tackle a comparative taxation policy that would stimulate, not hinder the growth of tourist arrivals not just in the country but the Apec region in general.

Attending Tuesday’s “Conference on Enhancing Tourism Competitiveness in the Apec region through Realignment of Tourism and Taxation policies,” Aklan Governor Joeben Miraflores called for a “shared vision” of a taxation policy that is comparative to the taxes of other key sectors.

“We need a shared vision to assess the impact of current taxation measures in our respective economies and provide a comparative analysis of taxation levels in the travel and tourism industry against taxes imposed on other key sectors.  Let`s continue to make tourism a reliable source of livelihood for our people, and for our government, revenues, urgently needed for our development programs,” Miraflores told the conference delegates.

Miraflores also boasted of a 1.472 million tourist arrivals in Boracay in 2014, slightly down from its target of 1.5 million.

The governor, who himself said he would like to be known as Boracay governor, said the visitor arrivals in 2014 raked in P1.09 billion income for Aklan.

“Our take on to the statistic is not that we fell short of the target but instead, that we triumphed despite of man-made or natural adversities… For a small province with a locally sourced income comprising up to 45 percent of its total earnings, clearly it can be attributed to nothing but a phenomenal concerted effort by our people and our government workers and develop and implement responsive tourism policies and programs. Compare this with the average local earnings of other provinces which is 10 to 15 percent,” Miraflores said.

Representing Malay municipality Mayor John Yap, his executive assistant Mabel Bacani urged delegates to tackle a taxation policy that would develop, instead of stunt, the development of tourism in the country.

She said Boracay Island as a premier summer destination cornered 26 percent of the country’s tourism market.

“While we look at taxation as a tool to increase and supply what we have in our existing demand… we are also cautious. We must be able to develop our product so we can sustain it in the years to come… We hope that as we discuss taxation policy, we also fervently think of our destination development and management,” added Bacani, who also heads the Boracay redevelopment task force.

The rationale of the conference is to align tourism and taxation policies so that taxation will stimulate, not stunt, the demand for travel especially among the Apec economies.

“Over the past years, there has been an extraordinary growth in travel and tourism in Apec, resulting in more business opportunities and job creation. Based on the Apec TWG project in 2011-2012… taxation was clearly cited as one of the impediments towards maximizing the full growth potential of tourism to raise more revenues and jobs in the region,” the conference’s rationale said in its paper.

“It is critical that taxation helps build a conducive and transparent environment towards stimulating travel demand within and between the Apec economies. Hence, the conference aims to support the objective of widening the tax basis for the economies by ensuring that good governance and sound policy decision making practices are observed in introducing tax measures in the travel and tourism industry, including an overall regulatory impact assessment that will minimize the secondary impacts on business and prevent the decline in visitor flow or demand,” according to the rationale paper.

The Philippines is hosting this year’s Apec, a delegation of 21 member economies. The country hosted the event ahead of the Asean integration in 2015. It hosted the Apec leaders meeting for the first time in 1996.

The country will host on Wednesday the second leg of the Senior Officials’ Meeting and Related Meetings here, also as a way to promote the island as a premier summer destination among Apec member economies. AC