The tourism development levy is now set to take effect from next month, October 01. The one-percent levy imposed on the rates of hotels and other tourism facilities is to be used to establish the Tourism Development Fund whose seed money is to be provided by government. The fund would be managed by a board of trustees chaired by a private sector operator. The fund was established under the new Tourism Law (Act 817) which also saw the Tourist Board evolve into an authority. The Director of Corporate Affairs at the Tourism Authority, Ben Ohene-Aryeh spoke to JOY-BUSINESS. “We are first going to register and offer certificates to the hotels and related-enterprises to empower them to start the collection by the 1st of October. This is expected to cause the rates of the enterprises go up but the cost is to be borne by customers of the facilities. The enterprises are therefore only going to serve as collection points as its not going to be tax for the hotels” he explained. The authority is in this light undertaking a nationwide sensitization exercise. It has completed that in the Volta, Central, Western, Greater Accra and Eastern regions and hopes to end the remaining 5 before the October 01 timeline.