Parliament thinks to have
corrected all mistakes
Written by Respublika at 23/07 2010, 09:35 - 0 comments
Evalda Siskauskiene, President of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association, says: "Our sector did not live to see the correction of mistakes. Hotels are still applied 16% higher VAT after it was lifted from 5% to 21%. Meanwhile, in Latvia the tariff is 10%, in Estonia it is 9% and Poland applies barely 7% VAT. We have been deprived of competitiveness. Latest statistics show the number of tourists staying in Lithuania went down by 20%. Why would they spend their nights here if it is much cheaper in the neighbouring countries? Around 80% of hotel guests are foreigners. They should be offered a zero VAT tariff because tourism is exports. The VAT nonsense resulted in business losing LTL 130.5 million and the government earned around LTL 7 million from hotel VAT affair. However, foreigners redeemed around half of the money as the EU gives such an opportunity for business clients now. Thus, the budget had a minimal benefit and business is on its knees. The Ministry of Communication may as well boast of 49 new flights but nobody knows about it abroad because we can't afford even one week's ad video on BBC.
Respublika, 22.07.2010
Comments (0) - Write your own
