Caribbean Vows to Fight UK Aviation Tax till the End

Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo, has said the region will fight to the end against the United Kingdom’s Air Passenger Duty (APD), which took effect on November 1.

Jagdeo, during a recent British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) HardTalk recording, said the tax will impact negatively on Caribbean tourism. He said the UK’s move is one that will have significant impact on the already dwindling Caribbean tourism sector and should be reconsidered.

The British government said the tax is part of its efforts to cut aviation emissions as part of a major anti-environmental pollution plan but Jagdeo sees things differently and noted that such claims are baseless.

“The tax has nothing to do with the environment; it is a revenue raising tax that has absolutely nothing to do with the environment; it was never introduced as an environmental tax,” Jagdeo said.

He added that this is not the only problem the region has with the new travel tax, as the other issue of concern is the “discriminatory” way in which it is being introduced.

The new air passenger duty tax imposed beginning November 1 met major opposition from the Caribbean, Asia and other parts of the world, which Brian Deeson CEO of the Pacific-Asia Travel Association described as “shortsighted and self-defeating.”

As of November 1 last, the tax payable by a visitor to the Caribbean traveling in economy class will increase by 25 percent and from November 2010, the increase will be no less than 87 percent, while for passengers traveling in premium economy and business class, the corresponding increases will be 25 percent and 94 percent respectively.