January 2017 | Business View Caribbean

60 61 caribbean hotel and tourismassociation 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 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 collabora- tive 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. BVM: To sum up, what are some of the salient points that you would like our readers to take away from an article about the CHTA? COMITO: “The core of the message is that in the Caribbean, tourism is ev- eryone’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 con- nect the dots.We need much more friendly pol- icies and collaborative initiatives to protect and enhance the industry. It’s the single quickest way to generate employment and tax revenue for the governments of the Ca- ribbean. Bumping up our arrivals and our occupan- cies a few points has tremendous value; the tourist dollar has a multiplier effect that touches just about every aspect of life. And the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association is an active and engaging partner, working at the local and regional levels to help market, develop, enhance, and protect the industry.”