Business View Caribbean - February 2016 57
one point we lose market share because 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 air-
lines’ cost have actually held their own or gone down
a bit, but it’s the taxes and fees that are the big buga-
boo, here. So, we started an outreach, working with
our Caribbean Tourist Organization, 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 overnight, 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 Tourism 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
industry.”
