Tax incentives sought to promote tourism

FE Report | Published: April 16, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The country's tourism sector stakeholders have sought tax incentives in the next budget to expedite growth of the sector.
Leaders of different tourism development associations placed their proposals in a pre-budget meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Tuesday.
They sought tax benefits for importing quality vehicles and machinery to tap the potentiality of the sector.
The proposals for fiscal year 2014-15 include measures for promoting cross-border tourism services, carnet facility, exemption of advance income tax (AIT) on service charges they get from foreign nationals against their services, exemption of VAT on hotels and restaurants situated in rural areas, reduced VAT on services of international standard hotels etc.
Responding to their request, NBR chairman Ghulam Hussain said the government will review the proposals actively to help the tourism sector attract more tourists.
He said the NBR has already provided tax benefit on import of equipment for setting up standard hotels in the country.
The Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) has proposed to incorporate duty-free import of tourist vehicles, both for road and water-way, and re-introduction of carnet facilities for TOAB members that the government scrapped earlier for irregularities.
The association underscored the need for quality vehicles for international tourists which the operators are unable to import due to high cost.
Representatives of the Tourism Resorts Industries Association of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh International Hotel Association, the Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association, among others, also spoke at the meeting.