Brazilians Suffer Additional Travel Tax Abroad
Brazilians are bound to carry another burden when traveling abroad as an additional travel tax has been implemented by the government to its people. According to The Rio Times, Brazilians who settle their tour packages abroad are bound to get hit by a new 25 percent additional tax.
Apparently, companies that do not have physical offices in Brazil, such as travel agencies and hotels, will likely pass on the additional tax to their customers. They also cited airlines and cruise ships to be exempted from the added tax as they don't need to transfer currencies to another country.
With Brazil's tourism showing a slump in 2015, analysts believe that the additional tax will further deepen the problem. Eliana Ferrari, a travel agent in Sao Paulo said, "What was already bad will now get even worse. Clients who were already complaining about the high cost due to the foreign exchange rate, now will just think twice about traveling abroad."
Brazil's current tourism woes have also led to the closing of at least 10 travel agencies in the country. In 2016, Ferrari said that at least three agencies are on the verge of eventually closing after suspending their operations.
She also added that the additional tax has somehow forced travel agencies to stop marketing such low priced packages. She implied that travel agencies who sell their packages at a very low margin to attract clients will eventually lose benefit from that already small amount.
In another report by The Rio Times, the foreign exchange rate has also led to the decrease in Brazilian influx abroad. Brazil has also experienced the lowest in terms of tourist spending for the last six years. Fernando Rocha of Brazil's Central Bank also cited the country's slumping economy as one of the major factors affecting its tourism industry.
In a survey by the Brazil's Tourism Ministry, cited by The Rio Times, Brazilians currently enjoy traveling domestically instead of spending abroad. The number of Brazilians who wish to tour domestically has also increased by 77.4 percent in the last 10 years.
Henrique Alves of Brazil's Tourism Ministry said, "The natural, cultural and business attractions, allied to the gains in infrastructure are the factors which boost Brazilian tourism." Last year, Brazil recorded at least 62 million tourists contributing to the total record of 206 million trips made.
Ferrari, however, didn't see any changes on their travel agency Goldtur's record of tourists preferring domestic travel in exchange of their international trips, per The Rio Times.
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