The burden of the travel tax was first imposed upon Filipino travelers 70 years ago, in 1956, through Republic Act No. 1478, which created the Board of Travel and Tourist Industry. The fee was a minimum of P7.50 for travel costing P60 and a maximum of P100 for travel costing more than P1,000.
The money collected was used to fund the board’s activities, including “undertak[ing] the development of tourist attractions and provid[ing] and maintain[ing] essential facilities for tourists and travelers.”
In 1970, an additional travel tax of P300 was imposed on first class passengers and P200 for the rest under RA 6141. A maximum of P2 million of the proceeds went to the board for the development and maintenance of Rizal Park, while the remaining funds were allocated to other public parks.
In 2009, through RA 9593 signed by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) took over the Philippine Tourism Authority as the mandated agency for collecting the travel tax. The law also states that 50 percent of the proceeds shall accrue to the Tieza, 40 percent to the Commission on Higher Education for tourism-related educational programs and courses, and 10 percent to the National Commission for Culture and Arts.
The current rate for travel taxes is P1,620 for economy and business class, and P2,700 for first class passengers. In 2024,Tieza reported collecting P7.8 billion in travel taxes.
Over the years, traveling Filipinos have often wondered where these taxes go, and this ambiguity has led to broad public support for proposals to abolish the travel tax, a bid which recently received a boost when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. included it among the 21 priority measures of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council that he wants passed before this State of the Nation Address in June.
The Department of Finance has of course opposed the abolishment of the travel tax, which is a lucrative source of revenue for the state. However, authors of pending bills have cited the burden on Filipinos who are already weighed down by other taxes on income and consumption, along with the need to align with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Tourism Agreement of 2002, which calls for a phaseout of travel levies and taxes on nationals of member states.
Despite decades of travel tax collection amounting to billions of pesos, the travel experience in this country has not improved. Our airports remain among the worst in the world, along with other travel facilities such as sea ports and bus terminals.
If the government cannot be transparent with where the travel tax that we pay goes, perhaps it is time and just proper for it to be abolished.*
