Georgetown : Minister of Tourism Industry and Commerce Irfaan Ali has lauded the positive move by the British Government to restructure the four-band Air Passenger Duty (APD) system; this announcement was made by the by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, the Hon. George Osborne.
“This is indeed fantastic news, not just for individual countries but for the entire Caribbean. The restructuring of the APD will help us in boosting arrivals from the UK to Guyana, as the country has a large Diaspora in the UK. This move will now afford more persons the opportunity to return to Guyana to invest, retire or to rediscover the beauties of the country.
Guyana has stood steadfast behind the CTO is lobbying against the APD band system and now this will make the Caribbean countries more competitive and will undoubtedly lead to economic growth in the destinations,” Minister Ali declared.
He noted too, that the new reduced fee structure in turn should open up travel opportunities from the UK for leisure travellers whose interest lie in Eco Tourism, Wildlife and Bird Watching and who are travelling to Guyana to experience these tourism products.
Meanwhile , the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), in welcoming the announcement added that “effective April 2015, the APD will be simplified into a two band system: band A for short haul flights of less than 2000 miles from London and band B for all long haul flights more than 2000 miles from London. The new band B will be charged at the planned rate in 2015-16 (£71 for reduced rate passengers and £142 for standard rate passengers).”
The changes will come into effect in April 2015 and will see the axing of APD bands C and D for flights of more than 4,000 miles. All long-haul flights will now carry the same, lower, band B tax rate, meaning persons travelling to the Caribbean will pay the same as if they were travelling to the United States.
Britain introduced the controversial travel tax in 1994. The APD was increased regularly, making billions in revenues for the UK government but increasing the price to travel from the UK to regions such as the Caribbean; APD is an excise duty which is charged to passengers flying from a United Kingdom airport. (Tourism Ministry)
