Tobago Secretary of Tourism Blasts UK Air Passenger Duty

Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Secretary of Tourism and Transportation Tracy Davidson-Celestine says the Caribbean is facing “discriminatory treatment” with the British Air Passenger Duty which is “crippling” the number of UK visitors visiting the region.

She made the comments last week at the Assembly Legislature during debate of Tobago’s 2015 budget.

Davidson-Celestine lamented that the British Air Passenger Duty was the highest air passenger tax in the world and one that crippled UK holiday makers to the Caribbean and visiting friends and relatives.

She added that the discriminatory treatment of the Caribbean region, taxed at a higher rate than California and Hawaii although the two are the same distance, started out as a £40 tax for a family of four in 1997 and has since been increased to £340 this year.

She recalled that in March the British Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a very small cut of £14 per person from April, but this was short-lived as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

Source: Newsday (Trinidad & Tobago)