Caribbean news. The long-standing dispute between the Caribbean and the United Kingdom which centred on the highly contentious Air Passenger Duty (APD) tax has advanced significantly with a welcome outcome for both the Caribbean and the UK travel industry.
On Wednesday 19th March, UK Chancellor George Osborne announced a change to the APD banding rules so that all long-haul flights will now carry the same tax as a flight to the United States.
High Commissioner Garvin Nicholas has waged a tireless battle against what he deemed a discriminatory tax, which saw flights from the UK to the Caribbean being taxed at a higher rate than flights to other destinations such as Hawaii in the United States, despite the distance between the UK and the Caribbean being considerably shorter.
Both UK and Caribbean travel and tourism stakeholders have bemoaned the APD increase, and in 2012 the Travel Trend Report of the UK Office for National Statistics showed that the number of business trips to the Caribbean had been halved, from 34,000 visits in 2011 to 18,000 in 2012.
HC Nicholas has lobbied various UK parliamentary members to address the inequity of the APD increase throughout his tenure, particularly via the Trinidad and Tobago All-Party Parliamentary Group, which he set up to seek Trinidad and Tobago’s interests within the UK Parliament.
HC Nicholas also partnered with several other Caribbean High Commissioners to contest the increase, and a significant turning point in their battle occurred at the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka when the High Commissioners successfully put the APD issue on the Commonwealth agenda. This led to a promise from British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, William Hague to CARICOM foreign ministers and High Commissioners to address the matter in this year’s Budget.
Flights from the UK to the Caribbean will now be taxed at £240 instead of £300, on par with flights to the United States. HC Nicholas has long criticized the debilitating influence of the APD on the Caribbean’s tourism-dependent economy, as well as its corrosive effect on the Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel market, resulting in a loss of passengers from the Caribbean Diaspora.
The High Commissioner praised the hard work of his colleagues, the Diaspora and his allies in the UK Parliament. “This is indeed a major achievement not only for our Caribbean travel and tourism industry, but for diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and the Caribbean”, he remarked.
“The UK has continuously spoken of reaching out to other markets and contributing to trade and economic activity, and of its respect for the Caribbean as Commonwealth partners.
Today, the Parliament has really proven that the interests of the Caribbean do matter, and I applaud the representatives for making a change towards equity and fair play.
The APD continues to be a deterrent to international tourism and trade, and it is my hope that the UK Government will soon examine further reduction or abolition of this tax”.
