TOURISM stakeholders in Lapu-Lapu City met with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to raise their concerns at a dialogue yesterday.
Christopher Arogancia, president of the Cebu Association of Tour Guides, recounted that a Japanese tourist was allegedly told to pay P24,000 as tax to a bag he bought from a Duty-Free Philippines store in Japan.
He said the Japanese tourist’s guide told him to ask for a receipt but when he approached customs personnel at the airport, he was allegedly told to pay P22,000 without being issued a receipt.
When the Japanese insisted on the receipt, he was made to pay P24,000 tax and then issued the receipt.
Compared to tourists visiting the country, Sen. Cayetano said he had a better experience in Thailand “where they had air-conditioned rest rooms and tour guides are honest and take care of their clients.”