Africa-Press – Seychelles. The environment levy for visitors, announced in the 2023 budget, will now be implemented during the second half of the year.
Vice-President Ahmed Afif made the announcement at yesterday’s cabinet press conference, following the cabinet of ministers’ meeting on Wednesday this week.
Mr Afif said cabinet was briefed on the status of preparations for the implementation of the new levy, which was expected to come into force on April 1, 2023. The environment levy, in the form of a ‘bed tax’, initially proposed three different rates for three categories of hotels ‒ R25 per night for hotels with 24 rooms, R75 per night for those with 25 to 49 rooms, and R100 for hotels with 50 rooms or more.
“The reason it has not been implemented yet is because there were consultations following the announcement of the budget and the government met with the hotels and their associations to discuss different concerns and enquiries related to the levy. Finally what had been agreed on is to come up with a simple tariff because it should be a fixed amount instead of three different ones,” explained the vice- president.
He stated that they also agreed the impact on environment was more or less the same, whether visitors stay in a small or big tourism establishment.
According to Mr Afif, through the negotiations, the final agreement was to establish a fixed amount of R75 per night for small, medium or large rooms/hotels. This is not, however, applicable to residents of Seychelles and all children. The tariff will be collected, similarly to how all hotel taxes are done, upon checkout, while receiving their invoice.
The government said it spends over R400 million annually dealing with the environmental impact and negative contributions caused by tourism and these are covered from various sectors’ budgets such as the environment department and waste management sector.
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