Caribbean ministerial group to lobby in London against second round of punitive tax hikes

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Caribbean will intensify its lobby for a fairer passenger tax system in the UK, when a high level delegation from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) visits the British capital next week for a series of meetings with travel industry and parliamentary bodies.

Between September 6-8 2010, six Caribbean ministers of tourism, along with the CTO’s chief executive, will be in London for talks on the Air Passenger Duty (APD) with a range of organisations including the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), the Caribbean Council, Caribbean Diaspora representatives, the British Air Transport Association and the British Caribbean All Party Parliamentary Group.

The Caribbean delegation will be lobbying for a fairer alternative to the current APD system, which currently taxes flights from Britain to the Caribbean more heavily than travel to Hawaii, and is set to rise for the second time in a year within the next two months.

In November 2008 APD was re-worked into a four-tier band system, categorising destinations according to the distance between London and their national capital. From 1 November, APD on flights to the Caribbean will have risen by up to 94 per cent over two years, meaning that a four-person family travelling to the Caribbean in premium economy will pay £600 in APD alone.

The ministers will be lobbying for their region, officially the most tourism-dependent in the world (14.5 per cent of the region’s GDP and, for some islands, over 70 per cent) to potentially be moved into the same band as the USA and Bermuda, or for the APD system to be replaced with a fairer structure.

Hugh Riley

Hugh Riley, secretary general and CEO of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, said, “We feel that the size of the delegation which is coming to the UK on 6 September underscores the importance that the Caribbean attaches to this issue and the seriousness of our intent to minimise the possible damage that this second set of price increases will bring about.

“The rises come at time when a second British recession is being forecast and the Caribbean governments and people feel that it is paramount that we discuss the issue with every responsible body in order to find a mutually acceptable solution as soon as possible”.

Next month the Caribbean Tourism Organisation is hosting a leadership strategy conference in Barbados where Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, will address the delegation about the importance of intercontinental travel and where he is expected to touch on the gravity of the APD issue and its ramifications for Caribbean tourism.

List of ministers visiting London in September 2010, and accompanied by CTO secretary general Hugh Riley

John Maginley MP, Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture, Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation

Richard Sealy MP, Minister of Tourism, Barbados

Glynis Roberts MP, Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Grenada

Edmund Bartlett MP, Minister of Tourism, Jamaica

Senator Richard Skerritt , Minister of Tourism and International Transport, St Kitts and Nevis

Senator Allen Chastanet, Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation, Saint Lucia