Parañaque 2nd District Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan is pushing for the passage of a measure seeking to abolish the travel tax on Filipinos and nationals of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) states leaving the country and traveling to other Asean states, to boost tourism and promote fair and affordable trips within Southeast Asia. In a statement on Tuesday, Yamsuan said exempting certain sectors from paying this tax is unfair to other travelers and makes the Philippines less competitive in the booming $59 billion Asean tourism market, especially when most of the members in this regional bloc have already removed similar levies. “Why make exemptions when everyone can benefit, which is why we are proposing through House Bill 4793 that the government abolish the travel tax altogether for Filipinos and other Asean nationals leaving the country and visiting other Asean member states,” he said. Yamsuan issued the statement in response to a report quoting an official of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Authority (TIEZA) as saying that the agency is eyeing the exemption of “certified” travel bloggers from paying the travel tax. “The fact that Tieza is mulling this exemption means imposing the outdated travel tax is a disincentive to personal travel. A small family of four planning to visit another Asean state like Singapore or Thailand has to shell out P1,620 for each member if they want to book economy class seats, or almost P6,500 in total that they could have otherwise saved or spent elsewhere,” he said. If House Bill 4793 becomes a law, the travel tax would be removed for Filipinos and other Asean nationals visiting the 11 Southeast Asian states of the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Timor-Leste. Yamsuan said the revenue losses from abolishing the tax, estimated by the Department of Finance at P5 billion annually, would be offset by the greater benefit of stimulating the economy and generating increased revenues for tourism. Independent estimates place the benefits to the economy of removing the travel tax at nearly P300 billion. He said abolishing the travel tax also fulfills the Philippines’ commitment under the Asean Tourism Agreement of 2002 on facilitating travel within Southeast Asia. Article 2 of the agreement states that this should be done by, among others, “phasing out travel levies and travel taxes on nationals of Asean member states traveling to other Asean member states.” Yamsuan added that his proposal is not new, as the government has made efforts consistent with removing the travel tax.