The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority is an agency connected with the Department of Tourism and created by the Tourism Act of 2009. It is responsible for implementing the DoT’s policies and programs pertaining to the development, promotion, and supervision of tourism projects in our country.
TIEZA brings development to areas with high cultural, historical, religious, heritage, or ecotourism values, helping shape a deep sense of awareness and pride for our traditions, natural bounties, and uniqueness as a race.
The agency is also responsible for restoring and rehabilitating historical landmarks and constructs tourism facilities in accordance with the DoT’s National Tourism Development Plan. It also operates and manages tourist facilities, like hotels, restaurants, and specialized sports facilities, in various parts of the country.
Another task for this agency is setting up Tourism Enterprise Zones to attract private stakeholders, through Fiscal and Non-fiscal incentives, to partner with it for tourism development.
The Fiscal Incentives include Income Tax Holiday, Net Loss Carry Over, Gross Income Taxation, Tax and Duty Free Importation, Tax Credit and Social Responsibility Incentive. The Non-Fiscal Incentives are Employment of foreign nationals, Special Investor’s Resident Visa, and Lease of land.
TIEZA is also the agency responsible for collecting the Travel Tax from every passenger leaving the country. This is imposed by the Philippine government through Presidential Decree 1183, regardless of where the ticket was issued and how it was paid for.
The amount collected benefits three government agencies: TIEZA gets 50 percent, the Commission on Higher Education gets 40 percent, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts receives the remaining 10 percent.
Not too long ago, TIEZA, in partnership with the Development Bank of the Philippines and the DBP Data Center, launched the new Online Travel Tax Payment System, making it now more convenient for travelers to pay the required Travel Tax.
The new system may be availed of 24/7 with the use of VISA, MasterCard, and BancNet credit cards, including debit cards. This can even be done over-the-counter at partner establishments, such as Lhuillier Pawnshop, Tambunting Pawnshop, Shopwise, Wellcome Supermarket, and in TIEZA’s own Touchpay Kiosks which will be set up in strategic locations.
During the Launch, TIEZA chief operating officer Pocholo Paragas himself demonstrated how to create an account, while DBP vice president Ricardo Josef Bandal II showed how to pay through the TouchPay Kiosk.
COO Paragas conceived of this idea to give passengers the option to pay their Travel Taxes online instead of lining up at the airports and other Travel Tax centers and is in line with President Duterte’s directive to reduce the queues in government offices.
For those who want to avail of this more convenient tax payment facility, log on to traveltax.tieza.gov.ph and click on OTTPS.
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