Ramos lifts travel tax

Ramos lifts travel tax

MANILA (AFP): The Philippine government lifted yesterday travel tax requirements at international airports in the country's south to boost tourism and business links with contiguous areas of southeast Asia.

President Fidel Ramos exempted for two years air and sea passengers from the southern Mindanao region to Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia from paying travel tax, the presidential palace said in a statement.

The order should "encourage trade and promote investment opportunities in the East Asian Growth Area," it added.

Ramos is promoting a so-called "growth area" among contiguous areas of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.