I don't know if any of you have seen this. I have no idea how it is to be implemented.
<The Tunisian government plans to increase the tax on alcoholic drinks within the framework of the country’s 2013 finance bill, as part of efforts to generate additional fiscal revenues to reduce the budget deficit.
Plans to increase the tax on alcoholic drinks in Tunisia would generate an estimated TND170m (USD107.5m) for the government. The aim is to reduce the budget deficit to 5.9% next year from around 6.6%.
Other key fiscal measures provided for in the bill include plans to raise the travel exit tax by TND20, from TND60 currently to TND80. Any rise in the levy would be extremely controversial and unpopular, however, as Tunisia is the only country to impose a stamp duty on foreign trips. The duty was “temporarily†introduced in Tunisia at the beginning of the 1980s. Revenues from the tax will flow directly to the national employment fund.
The government plans to increase road tax by 25%, and, to ensure social justice, to impose a 1% tax on top earners with annual income in excess of TND20,000.
TNDThe 2013 finance bill provides for a tax to be levied on overnight hotel stays at a rate of TND2 per night, and for a50 tax to be levied on foreign tourist vehicles that are not registered in Tunisia. The tax would be valid for six months.
Finally, a 1% tax is to be imposed on the gross turnover of cafés, restaurants, discotheques, and patisseries.>>
Please note: For all arrivals from 1.10.2013 onwards, there will be a Tourist City Tax of 2 TND per person per night – children under 12 years old are exempt. The tax is payable directly to the hotel upon arrival.
On the Med Hotels website, there was no indication of how it was to be paid - simply that the tax would be implemented as from October the first.
There is still no indication if the tax is to be charged for those staying in private apartments and if so how it will be collected, but obviously this won't be of concern to most people and certainly not to the bed-bookers such as Med Hotels or Lowcost.
I've just had a look at Travel Republic and can't see any reference to this tax at all, despite doing a dummy booking almost to the end. I know it's a new thing and 2 dinar a day may not sound much, but for a family of 4 or 5 staying 14 days it will certainly add up, especially now that flight and hotel prices have shot up quite a lot.
None of my friends who are reps over there had not heard of it until I sent them an email last week!
I also have not heard of this. We normally holiday as a group which can vary between 12 and 16 people, so to add 2dinar on top of p.p. each night would add up. Also sadly I have noticed a big price notice, we have recently stayed in the Sol, and the hotel was half empty, I think the hotel can have up to 600 guests and at the most I would say there was only about 100guests, but looking at the prices, it sadly explains why the hotel only had that amount of guests in :-(
Just out of curiosity, has anyone who has booked an hotel independently (as opposed to a package holiday - via a company like Travel Republic) been asked to pay this new tax? I haven't heard of anyone despite several friends booking this way and completing their stays in Tunisia. x
Me neither Jenny, nor from anyone who has been there recently, no matter how they have booked. Yesterday I booked my hotel for May, through Alpha Rooms, and there was no mention of the tax anywhere.
Very odd indeed, as this was set in concrete early last year and was sent to me via a friend who works in government admin. However, we are talking about Tunisia, so no surprise there!
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