St. Kitts Hospitality workers and farmers to benefit from small hotels special incentive package

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Hospitality workers and farmers are to benefit from the Special Incentive Package for Small Hotels under the agreement signed between themselves and Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas.

Small hotels with not less than 10 rooms and not exceeding 99 rooms, are required to train all employees for a minimum of 12 hours per year for each employee and purchase local agricultural commodities which include but not limited to meats, poultry and seafood, horticulture and craft items.

The agreement negotiated by the St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA) requires the hoteliers to increase their energy efficiency by adopting energy saving practices and maintain their physical facilities to at least the minimum acceptable level of industry related standards.

The small hotels will get a waiver of import duty and consumption tax on fixtures, furniture, appliances and equipment imported for use in refurbishment projects. Energy saving equipment is also treated as refurbishment and will only incur the 12 percent customs service charge only.

Prior to the start of any proposed refurbishment activity a comprehensive refurbishment plan including a list of items for which concessions is being requested must be submitted for approval to the Ministry of Finance, which will consult with the relevant agencies such as the Public Works Department to determine whether the list is reasonable.

Small hotels are also required to complete and submit a Small Hotels Statistics Form on economic activity and any other supplemental forms or surveys as requested by the Statistics Department in the Ministry of Sustainable Development.

In return the small hotels with restaurant facilities will be allowed to import food and wine duty free (a waiver of import duty and consumption tax with a 12 % customs service charge payable).

This facility is not extended to sodas (carbonated beverages), beer and liquor.

A suitable mechanism is to be put in place by the Ministry of Finance and Customs Department to monitor this facility to ensure that stock for the restaurant is kept separate from other stock and that the system is not abused.