(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ambassador Irwin LaRocque has welcomed the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, the Hon. George Osborne that the UK will restructure the four-band Air Passenger Duty (APD) system. This tax has negatively affected the Region’s tourism sector and the realignment to a simpler and fairer two-band system is in keeping with the proposals advanced by the Community.
The Community had from the outset expressed its concern that the manner in which the APD was applied, discriminated against Caribbean destinations given that it was calculated according to the distance between London and the destination country’s capital city. For example, the APD tax on a ticket to Hawaii was less that the APD tax on a ticket to the Caribbean. The Community through high level political and diplomatic representatives, the CTO, the diaspora, as well as affected airlines and friends of the Caribbean lobbied strongly and ultimately successfully for a fair application of this tax.
The Secretary-General thanked the British Government and praised all who lobbied for the amendment of the discriminatory tax. “Our Community and its supporters have been steadfast in their efforts to have this tax applied more fairly and these efforts have not been in vain,” Ambassador LaRocque said. In referring to the action taken by the British Government, the Secretary-General said this response was a tangible demonstration of the value of dialogue in addressing issues of concern.
