UK’s flight tax will negatively impact the Caribbean, official warns

London.- Dominican Foreign Relations minister Carlos Morales asked that United Kingdom eliminate the tax on passengers traveling by air to the Caribbean region, in effect since April, warning of its negative impact on the number of flights, both business and holidays, as well as not having achieved one of its key objectives: the protection of the environment.

"I want to add my voice here to the high commissioners, ambassadors, the Caribbean Council and some members of Parliament who’ve been working very hard to give this message to the government and I expect to correct this unhappy state of affairs soon," he said.

In a statement the official said the Caribbean has lost around 270,000 tourists in the last three months as a result of the UK’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) and called British-Dominican bilateral trade “vibrant and growing,” with British investment already topping US$1.0 billion.

Morales added that last year alone Dominican Republic received more than four million visitors and the influx more than US$2.9 billion in foreign investment, nearly 1.3 billion dollars more than in 2009, while it already secured 54 new permits for free zones, with investments of around US$100.0 million.

David Jessop analyses issue

The issue has been the topic of the two most recent articles by DT contributor Europe David Jessop, in his weekly column “The View from Europe.”