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.... Letters & Opinion

14th July 2012
Dr Anthony intervenes to stem dwindling UK arrivals

As the world economy buckles and Britain, which is no exception, implements fiscal measures to counter their deficit, Prime Minister Dr Anthony appeals to Mr Osborne Exchequer of the UK to revisit the unfair ADP tax which is out of sync with straight forward business standards. This tax is so unfair that the WTO is about the only organization which can put any meaningful pressure on the UK government as former administrations within the Caribbean repeatedly met with UK stakeholders including Sir Richard Branson with negative results. This situation is worrying as sixty seven percent of our GDP is reliant on the tourist industry and if we are not able to devise alternative measures to deal with the shortfall, our economy will be in for a very rude awakening. To add insult to injury, the Olympic Games in the UK for the next thirty days will place additional pressure on the industry as all countries have been pushing the STAYCATION concept. Virgin Atlantic has registered a significant drop in departures and arrivals and when situations like these transpire, the next step is flight reduction, therefore, remedial action is absolutely necessary. On the other hand, destinations like Dominican Republic, Panama, Mexico and Dubai which maintain strong links with particular airlines have registered alarming increases in arrivals and departures.

 
 
Wages and home grown produce in the Dominican Republic are some areas driving costs down and there is little we can do to respond to this particular scenario based on our excessive importation so it boils down to dollars and cents. The cost of doing business in the Caribbean is on the rise and we need to face the consequences sooner rather than later. As the number of passengers decrease so will the flights drop and without adequate airlift, airfares will rise as it will be a question of supply and demand. Puerto has paid a dear price for dropping the ball while destinations like Dom Rep, Panama, Cuba and Mexico have fulfilled their role. Tourism officials need to quickly affiliate themselves possibly with the Dom Republic and capitalize on their vast increase on tourism arrivals by working out some sort of a deal whereby passengers can split their vacations between St Lucia and the Dom Rep. The Dom Rep may also be well disposed to offer us certain foods at special price. This is a changing world and the method of doing business is changing rapidly.

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