A foreigner wishing to stay in Burundi in a hotel will now be charged in foreign currency for his hotel expenses. Hotel owners should revise their pricing and collect foreign exchange revenue. The sector can help drain the currencies that are lacking in the country
Audace Niyonzima, Minister of Finance: “After the month of February, we will examine the results, that is to say the number of tourists who have stayed in hotels and the foreign exchange earnings”.
The measure was communicated during a joint meeting of two ministries, namely that of Finance, Budget and Economic Development Cooperation and that of Trade, Transport, Industry, and Tourism with the owners of the hotels. The latter must review the setting of their tariffs and collect foreign currency revenue. A decision that delighted hotel managers. However, the latter are asked to open foreign currency accounts in commercial banks and join the digital platform set up by the General Commissioner for Migration.
Audacity Niyonzima, Minister of Finance explains that there is an artificial scarcity of currencies following the desire of currency holders to keep them in the coffers. They hoard cash. The objective has encouraged the owners to deposit their receipts in foreign currencies in the banks to allow appropriate management.
A measure taken with a view to applying the exchange regulations
The owners of the hotels ask that an official note be drawn up to serve as proof. The Minister of Finance explained to them that the note is not necessary since the measure is provided for in the provisions of the exchange regulations, but that it has not been applied so far, also justifying that any traveler is supposed to know that he pays the hotel charges in USD. But, he added that if it proves necessary, the supervising ministry will take care of it.
It is essential to know the currencies that come from the tourism sector, says the Ministry of Finance. The month of February was considered as the control month for this measure. “After February, we will look at the results, ie the number of tourists who have stayed in the hotels and the foreign exchange earnings. This will facilitate the establishment of a database in the tourism sector and knowledge of the measures to be taken to increase its contribution to the country’s economy,” Minister Niyonzima said.
An opportunity to address the challenges that haunt the tourism sector
Hotel owners have insisted that tourists who come to Burundi do not come to gaze at their hotels. They come to visit the attractive places of the country. Unfortunately, these sites are not maintained and the roads leading to them are faulty. Marie Chantal Nijimbere, minister in charge of tourism promised that among the priorities of the government, is that of providing infrastructure that will attract investors and also visitors.
The owners of the hotels mentioned the problem of the non harmonization of the taxes for the hotels of the city of Bujumbura and those of the other communes of the country. The hotels in the interior of the country pay a tax for the bar, the restaurant and the accommodation whereas the bar and the restaurant serve only the few customers who request the accommodation.
Denis Nshimirimana, secretary general of the CFCIB, reports that the hotel sector has experienced a decline since the 2015 crisis with the withdrawal of donors from Burundi. Conference and symposium tourism earned hotels more than leisure tourism. “I would ask the minister in charge of tourism to prepare the states general of tourism to identify all the barriers that make the sector remain handicapped and the measures to be taken to reinvigorate it”, he asks.
