Jamaica has made an 11th hour pre-Budget appeal for help with Air Passenger Duty.
The country’s tourism minister Edmund Bartlett called for a reduction or redesign to the current APD system as speculation mounted that the air tax rate would be frozen in Wednesday’s Budget.
Speaking before he left the UK to complete the final leg of a European trip, Bartlett said: “In the knowledge that this week is a very important Budget for the UK and its government, I would ask that they do not lose site of the APD problem that Caribbean destinations such as Jamaica are currently experiencing.
“Further to months of lobbying, our message is simple in that the Caribbean’s economy is based on tourism with one in seven workers directly employed in the sector and one in five indirectly, all equating to a figure of $39 billion accounting for a third of foreign exchange earnings.
“These statistics cannot be ignored, particularly when we are just bringing about a level of stability to this sector on the back of a very tough recession.”
Barlett called on chancellor George Osborne to take a “sensible approach” to APD bands to ensure that the Caribbean is not at a disadvantage compared to the US.
“What needs to be made clear is that if the current system is not addressed fairly, there will be long lasting effects on the UK, in terms of the fact that destinations such as Jamaica and the UK are inexplicably linked and as such, not addressing the APD issue could put this relationship into irreversible jeopardy,” he added.