IATA Opposes Jamaica’s Planned Tourist Arrival Tax Hike

IATA Opposes Jamaica’s Planned Tourist Arrival Tax Hike

In a letter to Jamaica’s tourism minister, an International Air Transport Association (IATA) official urged Jamaica’s government to abandon plans to implement a $10 increase in its air passenger arrival tax. Cyriel Kronenburg, IATA’s assistant director of infrastructure, was quoted in Caribbean press reports Sunday saying the hike, scheduled to take effect in October, “will reduce rather than increase the number of tourists coming to this already uncompetitive region.”

“If a political decision is made [and] the industry is to be taxed for marketing purposes, the burden should be spread equally among all travel and tourism sectors, all of whom benefit from its marketing efforts,” Kronenburg said.

Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s tourism minister, recently defended the tax hike, saying the money will be used “exclusively towards the marketing of Jamaica in new and emerging markets” in a speech at the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) general meeting in Ocho Rios.

Bartlett said Jamaica is “moving to open new doors” by marketing to potential tourists in as Brazil, Russia, India, China, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey. Last month, Wayne Cummings, JHTA’s president, called the tax hike “excessive,” saying it “will affect travel to the Jamaica” and “sends a wrong signal to the airline market and to consumers.”

Cummings also called instituting a fee increase only months after Jamaica successfully lobbied the United Kingdom against hiking its air passenger duty “hypocritical.”