June 29, 2011: Briefing Document on the Caribbean's Response to the APD
Caribbean Governments, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) have made clear jointly and separately at every opportunity over the past two years, their concern about the impact that the present four band Air Passenger Duty (APD) system is having on the Caribbean economy and on its Diaspora living in the United Kingdom.
At Prime Ministerial level concerns about APD have been raised with the former UK Prime Minister at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009 and again in 2011 in a letter to Prime Minister Cameron from the Prime Minister of Grenada, in his capacity as Chairman of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
Representations have also been made to visiting British ministers and to the UK Parliament. Caribbean Tourism Ministers have raised their concerns directly with British Ministers at the UK Treasury, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department for Transport.
The Caribbean’s case for change starts from the perspective that the UK Treasury’s present four band system is discriminatory against the Caribbean and its Diaspora in the UK. The APD banding system favours the United States, a competitor destination; is intellectually incoherent as it divides Russia into two zones but sees all of the US as one entity; and takes no account of the economic impact that the tax has on Caribbean nations that are still in transition to services-based economies that are largely tourism based.
DOWNLOAD FULL BRIEFING DOCUMENT
Videos with interviews with Hugh Riley, Allen Chastenet on APD (done June 16th, 2011)
March 23, 2011 - CTO Statement on the UK Government's Announcement that there will be no rise in the APD in 2011
The Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) is pleased with today’s announcement by the British Chancellor that the Air Passenger Duty (APD) will not rise this year as previously projected, thus not increasing the current tax burden on British travellers to the Caribbean. The Chancellor’s statement to his parliament that the arbitrary nature of the bands “appeared to believe that the Caribbean was further away than California,” is a clear recognition of a crucial issue that has been the focus of the strong lobbying efforts by the CTO and its allies in the private sector, the Caribbean High Commissions, and the Diaspora.
Read the full statement.
APD - A Tax Too Far
In September 2010, six Caribbean Tourism Ministers met in London with British Ministers, officials, MPs and industry representatives to make clear their concerns about the damaging effect that Air Passenger Duty (APD) was having on the Caribbean tourism economy and the Caribbean community in the UK. The visit was organised by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), the regional tourism development agency comprising of 33 Governments and a variety of private sector entities.
In these meetings the British Government requested a concise review of the relationship between aviation taxation and Caribbean visitor arrivals, with a specific focus on the value of tourism to the Caribbean, the projected impact of increases in the cost of flights as a result of taxation and evidence about the impact of APD on the Caribbean community in the UK.
Caribbean Governments have been the first to recognise that it is not easy to disaggregate figures relating to APD given the current global financial climate and that there are a number of economic factors at play including:
• The world economic downturn
• Variable performance by Caribbean tourism destinations
• The fact that hotels in some countries are discounting rates to an extent that others are not.
The figures are further complicated by the fact that some airlines and tour operators have been absorbing up to now, the 1 November 2009 increase to offset consumer price sensitivity.
However, based on figures available so far indicating trends in UK travel and tourism to the Caribbean, the report that follows indicates the likely negative impact that APD will have whether through any successor aviation tax or further increases that may take place as a result of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) being applied to aviation.
DOWNLOAD FULL CTO REPORT
What is the CTO doing?
In letters to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, Caribbean governments have united to call for a repeal of the UK government's discriminatory plans. The Caribbean feels that it would be fair for its destinations to be reclassified in the same band as the USA and are lobbying for that amendment. CTO is encouraging the Caribbean diaspora in the UK to write to local MPs and protest against this tax.
Watch Interview on TravelMole.com with Hugh Riley: http://www.travelmole.tv/watch_vdo.php?sid=&id=15097
Four Tier Banding System
In April 2009 Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced in the 2009 Budget that the plans to revise Air Passenger Duty, a tax paid on departure from British airports, would go ahead. From November 2009, this APD levy system on flights out of the UK will be changed, so that the charged amount is based on a four-tier banding system. Bands are based on the distance between London and the destination country’s capital city. The British government plans to place the Caribbean in a more expensive tax category than the whole of the USA.
Flight tax to the Caribbean will rise by 94 per cent
As a result, flight tax to the Caribbean will increase by between 25 per cent and 87 per cent, depending upon the class of travel. In November 2010 those increases will reach as high as 94 per cent. This discriminatory system means that flights to Hawaii or California will be less heavily taxed than flights to the Caribbean destinations, even though APD is intended as a “green tax”.
UK holidaymakers and the overseas friends and relatives of Caribbean nationals who live in Britain are being heavily penalised. It would be more reasonable to place the Caribbean in the same band as the USA.
What does this mean to UK travellers?
1. In November, flights to the Caribbean will have £50 per person APD in economy class or £100 per person in all other classes
2. In 2010, flights to the Caribbean will have £75 per person APD in economy class or £150 per person in all other classes
3. A family of four travelling to the Caribbean in 2010 in premium classes will pay £600 IN APD TAX ALONE.
4. Tax on flying to the Caribbean in premium classes for a family of four will be £280 more expensive in 2010 than it is now
5. Tax on flying to the Caribbean in premium classes for a family of four will be £120 more expensive than tax on flights to Hawaii
6. UK travellers transiting in London from the regions will pay two sets of APD (Band A for the domestic feeder flight plus Band C for the intercontinental flight). Flying premium classes to the Caribbean from Northern Ireland will incur £174 per person in APD in addition to the air fare
| Band & approx Distance in miles from |
In the lowest class of travel (Reduced rate) |
In other than the lowest
class of travel* (Standard rate) |
| |
2009-10 2010-11 |
2009-10 2010-11 |
| Band A (0-2000) |
£11 £12 |
£22 £24 |
| Band B (2001–4000) |
£45 £60 |
£90 £120 |
| Band C (4001–6000) |
£50 £75 |
£100 £150 |
| Band D (over 6000) |
£55 £85 |
£110 £170 |
*(However if only one class of travel is available and that class provides for seating in excess of 40” then the standard (rather than the reduced) rate of APD applies).
What can you do?
* To find out the address for Members of Parliament, contact your local Town Hall or visit the following website:
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm* You can start a petition or sign the British Government No. 10. petition to object against this unfair tax at the following website:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/APDIncrease/
How to find your local MP 1. Visit the Parliament website
www.parliament.uk which provides a full list of all UK MPs as well as a variety of other useful information.
2. Visit
http://findyourmp.parliament.uk and enter your postcode into the ‘Search’ box. However if you know the name of your MP or constituency you can enter those details into the ‘Search’ box instead.
How to contact your MP
1. By Email: Once you have discovered who your local MP is, you can ‘copy and paste’ the draft APD letter and e-mail him / her directly at the assigned address.
2. By Letter: You may prefer to print a version of the draft APD letter and post it to your MP at the following address: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.
A full alphabetical directory can also be found at the following link:
http://www.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/mps_and_lords/alms.cfm