By Stephen Asante, GNA
Kumasi, Nov. 18, GNA – A three-day exercise
to enforce voluntary payment of the one per cent Tourism Levy, has begun in the
Ashanti Region.
It is also to promote quality standards,
safety and security in the tourism industry.
The Levy, stipulated in the Tourism Act 817
of 2011, is meant to provide the requisite resources for sustainable
development of the tourism industry.
Mr Prince Yaw Essah, Administrator of the
Tourism Development Fund, said the exercise was to ensure strict compliance in
the payment of the Levy.
It is also meant to recover arrears owed by
facility operators to put GTA in a better position to market and promote
Ghana’s tourist resources.
Mr Essah in an interview with the Ghana News
Agency (GNA), urged stakeholders, especially key players in the tourism
industry to strive to do the right thing.
This was because the Levy paid by users of
tourism establishments or units in the form of indirect tax was ultimately to
the benefit of the nation.
The Administrator said the exercise would
see the taskforce visiting more than 50 tourism facilities in the Region, to
verify how they were complying with the payment of the Levy.
Mr Ekow Sampson, Deputy Chief Executive
Officer in-charge of Operations, GTA, indicated that tourism had huge
potentials, which could be tapped for job and wealth creation.
Stakeholders should, therefore, be
supportive of the work of the GTA in the interest of all and sundry.
The first day of the exercise saw the
closure of Hotel La Sab and Abeh Cabayaro Hotel, all in Kumasi, for defaulting
in the payment of the Levy for a number of years.
GNA
