SWAT: The leaders of Kalam Hotel Association here on Tuesday rejected proposed imposition of taxes and said that no hotel would pay any kind of tax imposed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture and Tourism Authority.

Addressing an emergency press conference in Swat Press Club, they said that KPCTA and district administration categorised hotels in Swat to impose taxes on them.

“It is strange that tourism department has fixed room rent without consulting us. We have learned that it has also decided to impose taxes according to the category of a hotel in Swat ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs200,000,” they said.

They added that imposition of taxes and fixation of room rent was not acceptable to them.

The press conference was addressed by Kalam Hotel Association president Rahmatdin Siddiquie, senior vice-president Faqir Jan, Hazrat Jan, Malik Noor Khan, Malik Hassan Zeb Khan, Fariq Karim, Malik Mohammad Zada and Malik Nawab.

They said that room rent and provision of other facilities in Swat hotels were low. “Swat hotel industry has been badly impacted by earthquake, militancy and flood.

We have borne heavy losses due to closure of our hotels for years but government never bothered to help us,” they said.

The hoteliers said that flood in 2010 also destroyed residential houses, roads and bridges and inflicted heavy losses on the residents of the district.

They said that Kalam valley was one of the beautiful tourist resorts in the country and most of its residents were dependent on tourism and agriculture.

They said that they would resist imposition of any kind of tax in Swat. They demanded of the government to refrain from taking such steps.

However, the regional director general of tourist services, Bilal Khan, said in an explanatory statement that the government was not planning to impose any tax on any hotel in Swat.

“We have only decided to categorise and classify hotels in Swat district.

The decision has been taken in consultation with the district administration and All Swat Hotel Association,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2022