Swat hoteliers blast govt for levying heavy taxes

MINGORA: The hoteliers in Swat on Saturday rejected all kinds of taxes levied by the government on hotel industry.

Speaking at an emergency meeting of the owners and workers of hotels here, leader of the All Swat Hotels Association, Zahid Khan, alleged that the government had committed the economic murder of the business community and hotel industry by imposing heavy taxes on various pretexts.

“On one hand, the government is making tall claims to promote tourism in the province but, on the other, it has crippled the workers and owners of hotel sector with different kinds of taxes,” the hotelier said, adding that the government should provide relief to the businessmen and traders.

He said that their hotels were destroyed during militancy and the subsequent military operations but they rebuilt them on self-help basis. He said now the government had started fleecing the hoteliers with guests’ entry, tourism license fees, cleanliness, social security, food safety and municipal taxes.

Zahid Khan said the hotels’ owners were being harassed through registration of cases under various sections of environmental laws. Association’s general secretary Wakil Ahmad also spoke on the occasion and blasted the government for its poor policies, which had rendered thousands of workers jobless.

The owners vowed that they would launch protest movement and move court if the government did not stop unlawful actions and withdraw heavy taxes to save the hotel industry.