Mian Akram Farid, former President ICCI was elected as the Senior Vice-Chairman of Pakistan Hotels Association during the Annual General Meeting and election of PHA office-bearers and Executive Committee 2022-23 held in Karachi.
Mustansir Zakir from Hashwani Hotels was elected as Chairman Vice-Chairman, Abdul Jabbar Rathod, Vice-Chairman South, Faisal Qayyum Khan from Serena Hotels as Vice-Chairman North.
Akram Farid also congratulated newly elected Chairman and members of the Executive Committee. Addressing the meeting, M. Akram Farid paid tributes to the services of the outgoing Chairman Muhammad Anwar Qureshi and his team and said that Pakistan is rich in natural scenery and natural beauty and it should be richly endowed with this gift of God.
The recent floods and the covid-19 epidemic have badly affected the hotel and services industry due to which many hotels have closed down and thousands of employees will be unemployed, but despite all this, the government has not provided any relief to the hotel industry.
Due to conflicting policies of the government, this very important sector related to tourism is dying and no department or government is ready to listen to their grievances. M. Akram Farid further said that the government should exempt all taxes on the income of three star and four star hotels. He said that like other business sectors, the hotel industry has also been affected but it is a pity that the government has not given any relief to this industry.
Due to credit sale, hotel owners are paying sales tax and bed tax. Recent floods and cod epidemic have reduced business activities in hotels by 40%. In Pakistan, 0.5 to 6 million people are associated with hotel industry. In addition to the tax, the hotels that have not yet been able to collect the tax should be given a reprieve until the situation improves. 7.5% sales tax should be levied on hotels like restaurants and bed tax, which was earlier one rupee per bed, has been increased to five percent of room rent for hotels in Islamabad in July 2019, the government should abolish it.
