DILI, 15 march 2023 (TATOLI)- Minister of tourism commerce and Industry (MTCI) initiated a diploma for the creation of a tourism fund, before introducing the draft laws to the Council of Ministers for approval.
Deputy Minister of MTCI, Domingos Lopes Antunes said MTCI presents the diploma created with the purpose to collect tourism receipts and ensure the sustainability of tourism activities in the country.
“I presented a decree law on initial for tourism fund to ensure the sustainability in tourism activity. MTCI will design the draft laws and introduce them to the council minister for more discussion and request for approval before the implementation,’’ Deputy Minister of MTCI, Domingos Lopes Antunes told journalists at the government palace, after attending the council minister’s extraordinary meeting, this Wednesday.
He added that the tourism fund will be collected by the tourism authority. The fund will be used for the development of tourism activity in the potential site.
Lopes emphasized Currently, Timor-Leste does not have a legal base for collecting the tourism fund in all the tourism potential sides in TL, therefore all the tourism sites are less managed due to a lack of income or revenue from the tourism sites.
MTCI initiates this diploma of creation of a tourism fund to collect receipts from tourism activities. It is also to ensure economic diversification in Timor-Leste.
“MTCI will introduce draft laws for the creation of tourism funds in the next weeks. The revenue from tourism sites will be collected by the tourism authorities. The authority will use the money for tourism activities,”
He added that the draft of decree laws allowed all tourism potential sites to collect the revenue to be used for sustainable activities in tourism itself.
So far Timor-Leste has potential tourist sites across the country including Mountain Ramelau and Matebian, the beautiful beach in Atauru and Jaco Island, Cristu Reis, and others.
Journalist: José Belarmino De Sá
Editor: Nelia B.
