PUBLISHED: 27 August 2019
Online tourism licensing program
In April 2015 the Ministry of Tourism launched a new online system to register tourism-related businesses and tour guides who need a licence, in order to ease the licence inspection process and boost government revenues. The new system helps the government to increase tax collection as each business is issued an ID and Quick Response Code, making tracking the companies easier. It is quicker for businesses to register and will help to government to better manage the inspection of unlicensed businesses and tour guides (a source of unfair competition, and potentially negative tourist experiences). Unlike the new online business registration platform introduced by the Ministry of Commerce, online registration for tourism licenses is at the current time optional – the prior process of applying directly at the Ministry is still permitted.