Will new CTO chairman carry on APD fight?

By RuthMoisa Alleyne in St. Kitts

THE relay baton has been passed on to Commissioner of Tourism for the US Virgin Islands, Beverly Nicholson-Doty, newly elected Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO). This information was officially disclosed during the opening ceremony of the annual CTO State of the Industry Conference, which took place last week Wednesday evening at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort.

During a press conference held prior to the ceremony, the newly elect charged regional territories to come together as one Caribbean, one voice. Saying that the Caribbean needed “to seize the opportunity to brand the region as the all-year warm weather choice destination”, she argued that we were stronger collectively than we were working individually.

From left to Right Immediate past Chairman of the Council of Ministers
and St. Kitts Tourism Minister Ricky Skerritt, Secretary General and CEO Hugh Riley,
Rosecita Jeffers, Immediate past Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of St. Kitts
Tourism Authority, standing alongside the lady of the moment, newly elected Chairman of
the Council of Ministers Beverley Nichoison-Doty, Commissioner of Tourism US Virgin Islands.

What was of remark was that the new chairman, during that initial press conference, did not make mention of the region’s ongoing fight against the British regarding its Airline Passenger Duty (APD) Tax. One would note that this was one of the forefront battles of immediate Past Chairman Ricky Skerritt, a fight whose victory has seemingly further evaded us with a letter last month to CARICOM’s Chairman, Prime Minister Kenny Anthony, from UK Chancellor, George Osbourne.

In it, he was quoted as saying that “APD makes vital contribution to the public finances and it is important that revenues from the duty are maintained”.

During his welcoming remarks at the opening ceremony of the conference, Skerritt – also the Tourism Minister of the host country – said it was unfortunate that in spite of CTO’s best advocacy efforts, the UK Chancellor would still maintain his stance towards the Caribbean. “He is still not inclined to make any adjustments to his present discriminatory aviation tax structure, in which he taxes an airline ticket from London to Hawaii at a lower rate than from a ticket from London to St. Kitts, which is a much shorter distance away.”

He added that though it was the CTO’s strong opinion that tariffs should facilitate the delivery of proper security and better service at airports, while enhancing travel-related developments, they disagreed with the British government that aviation should be taxed at unlimited levels from balancing budgets.

The newly elect Nicholson-Doty has served as Commissioner of the USVI Department of Tourism since 2007 and was recently elected as Vice Chair for the US Territories during the 2010 Caribbean Tourism Organisation Leadership Strategy Conference in Barbados.