Angeles mayor scraps tourism fee



TWO weeks after assuming post as the local chief executive, Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. has ordered for the abolition of the P20 fee, otherwise known as tourism promotion and development fee, being imposed to hotel guests in Angeles City.

Lazatin issued Executive Order Number 9 Series of 2019, “an order abolishing the collection of the tourism promotion/development fee in the amount of P20 collected from every occupant per day of stay in a hotel/motel in Angeles City.”

Section 4 Article GG of the city’s Tax Ordinance Number 61 Series of 2011 states that all hotel occupants in Angeles City are required to pay the fee.

Lazatin added that several complaints were relayed to the Office of the Mayor that hotel and motel owners and managers have been receiving numerous complaints from their guests regarding the payment of said fees.

In the same executive order, the mayor said that in order to prevent the negative response of tourists staying in the city, the local government has deemed it necessary to abolish the collection of fees from hotel guests.

Former Harp president Mitch Otsuru, owner of Yufuin Japanese Restaurant, thanked Lazatin for keeping his campaign promise during a mayoralty debate their organization organized last year.

The Harp, which is now headed by president Maria Fatima Suarez Orfinada, stated that the city government has been collecting the tourism development fee per guest staying at an accommodation establishment since 2017.

Lazatin earlier vowed to work in making Angeles a business-friendly city. He also assured businessmen that there will be no business tax increase in the next few years under his administration.

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