WESTERN BUREAU:

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett and the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) are at odds over reports that the Government is considering a US$31 increase in taxes on airline passengers coming into the island.

Speaking to The Gleaner yesterday, JHTA President Wayne Cummings said he has learnt that Bartlett is proposing a US$10 increase to the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), while the Finance Ministry wants US$21 in airport fees to be used directly to finance the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Land-based visitors to the island currently pay US$10 per person to the TEF, while the CAA tax would be used to assist in removing that organisation from the National Budget.

'Absolute rubbish'

However, reacting to the JHTA's claims last night, Bartlett brushed them aside as 'absolute rubbish', though noting he could not speak on behalf of the CAA because such a proposal had not been brought to his attention.

"People must be careful about what they say loosely," Bartlett declared. "There is no increase that has been proposed for the TEF."

The Gleaner was unable to get a response from the CAA.

However, Cummings said he was aware that the reported proposed increase is to be submitted to Cabinet for its consideration, and warned that any new taxes would be a nightmare for the island's tourist industry.

"That is going to put us out of the affordability of other destinations," he argued, adding that land-based visitors are being burdened with taxes, while the country was unable to collect the $2 tax per head from cruise-ship passengers.

"I know what I am talking about, I have my ears to the ground," Cummings insisted.

Departure tax

On the other hand, outgoing passengers have not been spared from the tax net as, come tomorrow, Jamaicans and visitors departing the island will pay a 90 per cent increase in departure tax. Departing passengers who now pay $1,000 will pay $1,800.

The airlines were advised, in a letter from Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker yesterday, on the travel-tax regulation which has been amended to reflect the equivalent of US$20 prescribed by the Government in 1999.

A two-day notice of the change has not gone down well with some airlines, but chairman of the Board of Airlines Representing Jamaica, Tom Scarlett, said he would not object.

"We are (however) trying to meet with the Minister of Finance and Commissioner Walker to work out exactly how to collect the additional amounts. We will need a waiver for a few weeks, so we can advise the public," Scarlett said.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com