The withdrawal of stamp duty on airline tickets, announced in the 2004-05 Sindh budget, has placed Sindh at par with other provinces, viz. Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan.
The step has been welcomed by the Travel Agents Association of Pakistan (Taap), which had been agitating for quite some time on the imposition of this duty, which was considered discriminatory as Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan had withdrawn it earlier.
In the past, several presentations were made by M.Nadeem Sharif and Anwar Rasheed, Chairman and Regional Chairman of TAAP respectively to the Sindh Governor and Finance Minister, demanding withdrawal of stamp duty on airline tickets.
The duty was charged at the rate of Rs 25 on domestic tickets and Rs 250 on international tickets.
The Punjab government had withdrawn stamp duty as far back as 2000. The issue had remained pending during the previous regimes, directly affecting the travel and tourism trade.
A Taap spokesman said that the stamp duty had resulted in discrimination, which was against the spirit of Article 25 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Its withdrawal would have a positive impact on the business of travel agents as people would prefer buying airline tickets in Karachi or any other city in Sindh instead of buying tickets from Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan to avoid paying stamp duty.
Following the presentation, made by the Taap, the Sindh Governor, in a letter to the Finance Minister, had observed: "While the Government of Sindh is not earning very significant amount from the said stamp duty, it has resulted in the discrimination against passengers buying tickets from Sindh and the business of travel agents in the province."
He had, therefore, desired that to ensure fair deal to the passengers and provide level playing-field for travel agencies in the province, "it is imperative to review the situation."
He had further desired that the Chief Minister of Sindh might be requested by the Finance Department for the reconsideration of the matter after stating all facts and figures.
The Taap spokesman explained that the September 11 incident had cast severe negative impact on the travel and tourism industry as mostly the travellers preferred to abstain from taking journey unless it was unavoidable.
The airlines provided subsistence in the shape of commission to the travel agents, but most of them had since suspended their operations to and from Pakistan after the break-up of war in Afghanistan, he said.
The Taap spokesman further said Pakistan was also taken as a security risk country by the foreigners, including tourists, eroding travel and tourism business, and added the net result was that the travel and trade industry was in total disarray.
In the Western countries, he pointed out, the governments had extended financial support to the airlines to keep them operational, which indirectly compensated the losses sustained by their travel agents and tour operators.
The government of Pakistan, he suggested, should also come to the rescue of the travel agents and tour operators to keep them alive and save massive unemployment, which was bound to surface if the present situation prevailed for long.
At least the government should take necessary steps to reduce the tax burden on travel trade, he said.