ANTIGUA & BARBUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY

After five long years of lobbying, discussions and public relations efforts, the UK government has reduced the Airport Passenger Duty [APD] on flights to Antigua & Barbuda. This news, which follows efforts led by A&B Minister of Tourism John Maginley, was included in the budget statement delivered by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne  on March 20, 2014.

Starting next year, all “long haul” flights will be lowered to the same rate as those headed to the United States, including flights to the Caribbean, although that overall rate will be rising from its 2013 number.

“We will also reform Air Passenger Duty to end the crazy system where you pay less tax traveling to Hawaii than you do traveling to China or India,” Osborne said. “It hits exports, puts off tourists and creates a great sense of injustice among our Caribbean and South Asian communities here in Britain.”

Duties had previously been calculated at different rates according to different “bands,” in a manner the Caribbean had alleged to be discriminatory.

For example, flights heading to Miami were charged a lower duty than those heading to the Caribbean, despite being effectively equidistant from the United Kingdom.

The adjustment will see a decrease in taxes on a ticket from London or Manchester fall from £340 to £284, saving people $224 EC on an economy class ticket. The hard-won concession means nearly $1,000 EC savings for a family of four coming from the UK.

In practical terms, this means increased passenger numbers, increased hotel stays, and more money for Antiguans who work in hospitality and service industries. Coming at a time when the new facilities at Antigua’s international airport are nearing completion and major new hotel projects have been agreed with developers, the reduction in UK taxes that the UPP government have secured will put Antigua & Barbuda at the centre of the regional and international tourism industry.

Minister Maginley said, “I am delighted that the British Government has decided to remove the discrimination created by the banding in the application of the APD. I had the privilege of leading a delegation of Caribbean Ministers of Tourism as Chairman of the CTO to the UK to meet and discuss the effect of the APD as far back as September 2009, when this proposal was first made. It has taken some time for this to happen, but in the end it will be beneficial to Antigua and Barbuda in terms of lowering the cost of travel to the destination and increasing arrivals out of the UK.”