Business View Caribbean - August 2016 31
elasticity and at one point we lose market share be-
cause of the high cost of airfare. So, one of our goals
around advocacy is to reduce the high cost of airfare.
One of the major contributors to the high airfare costs
to the Caribbean are the high tax levels. Taxes and fees
have gone up incredibly in the last several years. The
U.S. taxes and fees have pretty much held their own,
but, for example, if you buy a ticket to the Bahamas,
which is a quick hop from Florida, over 51 percent of
the cost of your ticket are taxes and fees. And that
translates into most jurisdictions in the Caribbean –
they can be quite high. So, when you factor that in, our
argument has been that that adds to the increased
costs of supply. The airlines’ cost have actually held
their own or gone down a bit, but it’s the taxes and
fees that are the big bugaboo, here. So, we started an
outreach, working with our Caribbean Tourist Organi-
zation, to look at ways we can help to reduce the cost
of travel to the region. It’s an advocacy initiative that’s
part of a three-year plan. We won’t get it done over-
night, but we have done a lot of groundwork, already;
we’ve built some collaborative efforts around it both
with the airline industry and with the Caribbean Tour-
ism Organization to help address, not only the costs,
but also the ease of travel, as well. It should be much
easier than it is.
To sum up, what are some of the salient points that
you would like our readers to take away from an ar-
ticle about the CHTA?
“The core of the message is that in the Caribbean, tour-
ism is everyone’s business. And if people understand
better the connection of how it affects everything –
the socioeconomic aspect of everything in almost all
the destinations in the Caribbean – they can see how
we can better connect the dots. We need much more
friendly policies and collaborative initiatives to protect
and enhance the industry. It’s the single quickest way
to generate employment and tax revenue for the gov-
ernments of the Caribbean. Bumping up our arrivals
and our occupancies a few points has tremendous
value; the tourist dollar has a multiplier effect that
touches just about every aspect of life. And the Ca-
ribbean Hotel and Tourist Association is an active and
engaging partner, working at the local and regional lev-
els to help market, develop, enhance, and protect the
