The Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, along with the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), are optimistic that the Ministry of Finance will consider providing tax relief for operators in the sector during the mid-year budget review.
This follows a letter presented to the Ministry by the Authority after concerns from stakeholders.
During an interview with Citi News at the 2024 first-quarter Public-Private Partnership Forum in Koforidua, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyemang, highlighted the sector’s progress despite existing 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.
Both entities, aiming to make tourism the top GDP earner in the country, advocate for a flat tax rate regime to maintain and enhance the gains made in the tourism sector over the years.