KARACHI, Aug 2: The Pakistan Hotels Association (PHA) on Friday urged the government to impose the bed tax on hotels on an actual occupancy basis.

This was stated at a press conference by representatives of the PHA, who said that they had met with Sindh Governor Mohammadmian Soomro, who, after reviewing their demands, had agreed to give a concession and charge the bed tax on a 40 per cent occupancy basis.

They said that till some time back, bed tax was charged on the basis of 70 per cent of the total number of rooms in the hotels, regardless of the actual number of rooms occupied.

They stated that after the Sept 11 incident, tourist traffic had declined and hotels had suffered a setback. But after the terrorist attacks in Karachi during the past few months, the hotel industry had suffered an even greater setback, and room occupancy had dropped to around 10 per cent.

Yet the government continued to charge bed tax on the old basis, which had crippled the hotel industry.

They said that the PHA had approached the Sindh governor, who had agreed to give the concession and ordered that the bed tax be charged at 40 per cent of the total number of rooms in the hotel.

This concession has been given from July 1, 2002 to December 2002.

The PHA said that this decision would be reviewed in January 2003, and a further decision would be taken after keeping in view the situation being faced by the hotel industry at that time.

They said that even this 40 per cent occupancy was high, as at present the room occupancy rate in hotels was between 30 and 35 per cent.

They also urged the government to set up at least four tourism zones in Sindh. It was suggested that one zone could comprise Thatta with Keenjhar, Haleji and Hudero lakes and the archeological sites at Makli, Bhambhore, Chaukundi including sites such as the Shahjahani mosque.

The PHA President Syed Arshad Ali, Ashraf Butt, Barkat Lassi, M. H. Qureshi and others spoke on the occasion.