BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC - Barbados, which depends on theUnited Kingdom market for most of its tourists, is not holding out much hope that the new David Cameron-led coalition administration will immediately repeal the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD), being levied on passengers to the region out of the UK.
Tourism Minister Richard Sealy said the island was acutely aware of the serious economic challenges confronting Britain at this time.
“The United Kingdom has a fiscal crisis right now and I don’t think it is realistic for us to have any expectations that anything is going to happen to the APD in a hurry.
“Now I still think we should continue the work of lobbying and putting our position because certainly when things improve or look up, you want to be at the front of the queue. But I have already come to accept the fact that I have to live with for a while,” he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
Sealy stressed that in view of Barbados’ dependence of the UK market for business he sincerely hoped that his assessment was wrong.
But “at the same time I think we have to be realistic,” he said.
The dreaded APD came into force last November, with tourism statistics indicating that a family of four travelling to the Caribbean is now paying US$337 in taxes or just over US$655 if they are travelling in premium economy seats.
Caribbean tourism officials, who had received positive support signals from the Liberal Democrats ahead of elections in May, remain strongly opposed to the move, contending that it is unfair for Britain to charge a higher airport departure tax on visitors to the Caribbean compared to the tax paid by British visitors to some other major destinations.
The APD, which is calculated based on the distance of a country’s capital from London, puts regional destinations at a disadvantage when compared to Hawaii for example which is further away.
Immediately upon taking office the Conservative-led coalition promised a review of the measure. But the British Finance Minister George Osborne subsequently told the House of Commons that the new government will need more time to decide if to keep the APD or scrap it in favour of a per plane tax.
Sealy pointed out that the APD is just one of the many factors affecting UK business at this time.
In fact, he told CMC it was still difficult to gauge its direct impact on the sector.
“That would require a fairly complex study,” he said, noting that the “APD has been there with the falling pound (sterling), the declining economic situation, people losing their homes, jobs, the volcano erupting (in Iceland), the challenge between the union and British airways management.
“There have been so many issues with the United Kingdom market that I just think that it is tremendous work we have been doing to still make our selves attractive enough that we can still get so much business from the UK,” the Barbados minister said.
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