BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Wednesday September 8, 2010 – In the midst of a battle to have a review or complete scrapping of UK’s controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD) which increases in another two months, regional tourism has been dealt another tax blow.
The German government has implemented an airline ticket tax that will, like the APD, see some of the highest amounts being paid by those travelers coming to the Caribbean.
From September 3rd, tickets bought for travel beginning January 1st and onward, attracted a tax of €8 (US$10) for travel to 52 European destinations, €25 (US$31) for destinations in Asia and Africa, and €45 (US$57) to all other destinations, including those in the Caribbean.
The new flight levy was introduced ahead of a proposed budget designed to reduce government’s €80 billion (US$101 billion) deficit. Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had said Cabinet agreed that the measure would go into effect even before next year’s start date in order to prevent “a rush in ticket-buying aimed at pre-empting the tax”.
Just as UK airlines criticised the APD, German carriers aren’t welcoming the new airline tax either. And regional tourism officials will be just as concerned.
In Antigua and Barbuda where attempts to attract German tourists have not been as successful as officials would like, the Antigua Hotels and Tourism Association (AHTA) General Manager Neil Forrester has admitted that the new tax “certainly won’t help” that cause.
“The German outbound market was actually growing after the recession but this could have a slowing effect on that,” he told a local newspaper. “While the visitors that we’re getting from Germany are more of an affluent type of visitor, who probably wouldn’t even notice $50 difference, it’s certainly not going to help build our visitation from Germany.”
And Barbados’ Tourism Minister Richard Sealy has already expressed concern about the introduction of the tax.
“I am certain that other members of the European Union may look to do likewise if we simply sit silent,” he said, as he also supported his regional counterparts who have their hands full in Britain as they lobby the government and other officials there on the APD.
Representatives from six Caribbean islands are in London with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO). The delegation includes Tony Johnson, Jamaica’s High Commissioner to London; Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett; John Lynch, Director of Tourism in Jamaica; St Lucia’s Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation, Senator Allen Chastanet; Hugh Anthony Arthur, Barbados High Commissioner; Senator Richard Skerritt, Minister of Tourism and International Transport in St Kitts and Nevis; Glynis Roberts, Grenada’s Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation; CTO Chairman and Antigua and Barbuda’s Tourism Minister John Maginley; and CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley.
They will wrap up their talks today.
The APD will increase on November 1st. Based on the band into which Caribbean countries are placed – the third highest of the four bands – those travelling to the region from the UK in economy class will pay £75 (US $115) from that date, up from £50 (US$77), while the levy for premium economy, business and first-class passengers to the region will move from £100 (US$154) to £150 (US$291).