The tourism department of Vietnam's largest city, Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon, has proposed that city authorities introduce a tax that would be levied on every tourist who spends the night in the city. The amount of such a fee would be 23,000 Vietnamese dong, which is approximately 1 US dollar.
The tax, according to experts, will help develop tourism in Ho Chi Minh City. The funds received can be used for advertising campaigns and improving the qualifications of hotel staff. Experts emphasize that the introduction of the fee already has legal grounds - the new Law on Tourism provides for the creation of a National Fund for the Development of the Industry.
Another argument in favor of introducing a tourist tax is the similar experience of other countries. For example, in Rome, tourists pay 7 euros per night, while Swiss cities charge a fee of 3 dollars. In the Balearic Islands in Spain, travelers over 16 are taxed 1 euro when staying in a 3-star hotel and 2 euros in 4 and 5-star hotels. We will add that in the summer of 2017, a tourist tax was introduced in Malaysia, where foreigners pay 2.37 dollars per night. In Amsterdam, they plan to introduce a flat fee of 10 euros and a percentage of the cost of the hotel bill. At the moment, tourists in the Dutch capital pay 5% of the cost of the room.
Despite all the arguments, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee still considers the introduction of the tax premature.
Ho Chi Minh City is located in the south of Vietnam. It received 4.2 million foreign visitors in the first nine months of 2017, up 16.6% from the previous year. The city is known for its French colonial architecture and wide boulevards. Its main attractions include the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, Black Lady Mountain and the magnificent Mekong Delta.
Source: news.turizm.ru
