Taxes ......

The Australian Dollar has been on quite a downward ride over the past few months, but right now it can buy around US$0.92 which isn't too bad. Unfortunately in the past two months we have seen Kenya roll out its 16% VAT to include a range of services that are used by tourists. This has been with immediate effect and without warning. Tanzania has also added a new levy which has resulted in about US$1.50 per person per day being added to hotel bookings. While revenue is important to both nations, the impact on costs for tourists does not help with their competitiveness on the world tourism market.