PHNOM PENH, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Starting from Sept. 1, the departure tax that airline passengers line up to pay at the international airports in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap will be transferred to ticket price, local newspaper the Cambodian Daily said on Thursday.
The government has not made an official announcement yet on thetax, but a meeting between authorities, airport management firm and about 20 airlines that serve the international airports in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap is tentatively set for mid-July, said Ho Vandy, president of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents.
Moving the tax payment to ticket price is a victory for the industry and travelers, he said.
"Often people don't carry the money, or don't carry U.S. dollars, so it is very difficult for the tourists who don't know they will have to pay (the airport tax)," he added.
The airport management service fee, 25 U.S. dollars for foreigner and 18 U.S. dollars for Cambodian, has been levied by the government since 2003 and goes to airport infrastructure construction, as well as service and security improvement.
The government has not made an official announcement yet on thetax, but a meeting between authorities, airport management firm and about 20 airlines that serve the international airports in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap is tentatively set for mid-July, said Ho Vandy, president of the Cambodian Association of Travel Agents.
Moving the tax payment to ticket price is a victory for the industry and travelers, he said.
"Often people don't carry the money, or don't carry U.S. dollars, so it is very difficult for the tourists who don't know they will have to pay (the airport tax)," he added.
The airport management service fee, 25 U.S. dollars for foreigner and 18 U.S. dollars for Cambodian, has been levied by the government since 2003 and goes to airport infrastructure construction, as well as service and security improvement.
7 comments:
this is good method as the ticket companies is the one the gov't will go to to collect tax money for cambodia, otherwise if they don't pay taxes, they can lose their airport rights. god bless cambodia. this is one way to curb corruption, i guess. god bless cambodia.
That's what it should be !!! airport tax to be included in the air ticket is very efficient. you don't have to line up to pay it..
I am for it so long it reduces the overall cost and promote more tourists to visit Cambodia. We can't afford to lose any tourist at the moment. We'll need about 10 times of what we have now, and we haven't scratch the surface yet.
Dear 2:57 AM;
This is not about reduce the overall costs but rather reduce time lining up to pay for departure tax/passenger services charges.
Tourists will always go visit Cambodia as long as the political climate is stable and the infrastructures are ample to acommodate the increase numbers of tourists
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Dear 1:05 AM;
this is good method as the ticket companies is the one the gov't will go to to collect tax money for cambodia.
If I am not wrong, the government is not the institution that would go directly to the respective ticket companies/airlines who are issueing the ticket to collect tax money but the authorized/licensed airport operator who is the one to collect the tax money then pay its due taxes and leveies to the government.
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Oh, thank you, 4:14, at least I wasn't that far off. After all, time is money to some people.
Airport Exit Tax
I refer to the article on Airport Exit Tax .
May I suggest to the various parties concerned NOT to implement inclusion of the airport exit tax into the price of air ticket. This is because there are many travelers who buy budget airline tickets and because of changes of travel schedule, sometimes just abandon (like myself) the original ticket and buy another ticket instead, due to the high cost of changing the original ticket.
If the airport exit tax is already included in the price of the air ticket, and if the traveler abandons the ticket (and buys a new ticket), the tax which the airline company has collected on the original ticket at the beginning, will just go into the income of the airline company.
In Malaysia, they are still sorting this out with the various parties, and until today, after many years of consultation, the matter still remains unresolved and the airport tax paid by the traveler simply ends up into the coffers of the airline company.
As far as the Cambodian Authorities are concerned, there is nothing much to gain except that travel procedures might be speedier. If exit tax is included in the price of the air ticket, the airline company will only pay to the Airport Authorities the actual number of travelers passing through the airport only.
Good point, but how often does people abandon their ticket? Can we do something about this special cases?
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