PRESS RELEASES

Representatives of the Caribbean meet with UK Parliament

November 20, 2009

Caribbean ministers and industry representatives attending World Travel Market took the opportunity to meet with the British ministers and parliamentarians to express their deep concern about the negative impact of Air Passenger Duty (APD) on the Caribbean economy and on tourism arrivals from the UK, especially on the visiting friends and relatives market.
 
On 9 November, a delegation led by John Maginley MP, who is minister of tourism for Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s Council of Ministers, met under the auspices of Dawn Butler MP, with Sarah McCarthy Fry MP, the UK Treasury Minister responsible for APD. The group also met with an all-party group of MPs on 11 November at the House of Commons chaired by Sarah Teather MP to develop further cross party support for the Caribbean’s concerns about the impact of APD and how they might be addressed.
 
During both meetings, representatives expressed their deep concern about the negative impact of a banding structure that places more tax on air tickets from the UK to the Caribbean than the whole of the US The measure is particularly concerning to the many British citizens of Caribbean origin who frequently visit friends and relatives in the region.
 
At the 9 November meeting Caribbean Ministers told the treasury minister that there was growing anger in the UK and the Caribbean over APD.
 
Caribbean Ministers made clear that the UK Government’s position on banding which placed the Caribbean in a higher tax band that destinations on the US West Coast or Hawaii than the Caribbean was discriminatory, would damage tourism and would undercut key UK government and European initiatives in the region on development. They further underlined the fact that this measure is being implemented at a time of recession and when the industry has become the mainstay of almost every Caribbean economy. 
 
In exchanges the UK minister made clear that Treasury officials are exploring the legal and revenue issues associated with possibility of rebanding APD for the Caribbean.
 
At the November 11 all-party meeting convened by Sarah Teather MP on November 11, involving members from both Houses of Parliament agreed to adopt a strategy to encourage Government to make a positive decision on rebanding.
 
Notes
The ministers and personae who attended the 9 November meeting were:
Dawn Butler MP, Minister for Young Citizens and Youth Engagement
Sarah McCarthy Fry MP, Exchequer Secretary to HM Treasury
John Maginley MP, Minister of Tourism, Antigua and Barbuda
Edmund Bartlett MP, Minister of Tourism, Jamaica
Senator Allen Chastanet, Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Saint Lucia
Glynis Roberts MP, Minister of Tourism, Grenada
Richard Sealy MP, Minister of Tourism, Barbados
Hugh Riley, Secretary General, Caribbean Tourism Organisation
Alec Sanguinetti, Director General, Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association




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For further information contact Marissa Kowlessar, Richard Rigby or Debbie Hindle at bgb
+44 (20) 7902 2990  mkowlessar@bgb.co.uk or rrigby@bgb.co.uk
Alternatively, contact the Caribbean Tourism Organisation on +44 (20) 8948 0057.