Corporate Tax statement from TÜROB

Müberra Eresin, President of the Association of Turkish Hoteliers (TÜROB), called for the Corporate Tax reduction adopted by the TBMM Plan and Budget Committee to be applied to the tourism sector as well. Eresin said: “We believe that the tourism sector — which provides direct foreign currency inflow to Turkey and is defined under current legislation as an exporter and foreign-currency-earning service activity — should also be considered within the support mechanisms.”

In her statement on the matter, TÜROB President Eresin noted that, as TÜROB, they are closely following the regulations contained in the 15-article tax package bill adopted with certain changes in the TBMM Plan and Budget Committee, and expressed the following views:

As the tourism sector, we are intensely feeling the effects of global geopolitical tensions, particularly the increase in energy and employment costs and the slowdown in international demand. The contraction in airline supply and the ‘wait-and-see’ tendency observed in reservations are creating serious pressure on our sector. In such a sensitive period, we consider the approach in the draft law of reducing the corporate tax rate for producers holding an industrial registry certificate, for agricultural production activities and for exporter companies to be important for the country’s economy. However, we believe that the tourism sector — which provides direct foreign currency inflow to Turkey, generates high employment, contributes to reducing the current account deficit, and is defined under current legislation as an exporter and foreign-currency-earning service activity — should also be considered within these support mechanisms.
The tourism sector is a strategic sector that not only produces services but also carries out strong service exports. The accommodation sector in particular continues to be one of the most important pillars of the Turkish economy, with the large investments it makes and the economic contribution it provides.
For this reason, we are confident that it is extremely important for the tourism sector’s accommodation and other activities, which carry out service exports, to be considered for support similar to that provided for production, agriculture and essentially goods exports; and that with such support, qualified service exports, employment and foreign investment opportunities, and international competitiveness will be increased.
We hope that, in the draft law on the agenda, the economic contribution of the tourism sector, which carries out service exports, will be assessed more strongly in the coming period by our Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mr. Mehmet Şimşek; that the corporate tax reduction for agricultural, exporter and producer companies will also be considered for the other components of the tourism sector that carry out service exports, with accommodation as a priority; and that our sector will be addressed more comprehensively within the support mechanisms. We believe this approach will support a more equitable distribution of incentives.
We also consider the steps taken to reduce the accommodation tax from 2 percent to 1 percent, together with the 60 billion TL Tourism Support Package announced a short while ago, to be extremely valuable.
We regard the approach demonstrated by our esteemed President, our Minister of Culture and Tourism Mr. Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, and our Minister of Treasury and Finance Mr. Mehmet Şimşek toward the needs of our sector as significant support.
· As the Association of Turkish Hoteliers, as always, we will continue to support every kind of constructive step to be taken through public and private sector cooperation in order to make the strong potential of our country’s tourism sustainable