Caribbean Countries Protest against APD by not Attending WTM

The 36th edition of World Travel Market London has been marked by the absence of 30 Caribbean countries, which are comprised by the CTO. “Lack of budget”, sources from the Caribbean Tourism Organization say. But is it actually a protest against the air passenger duty established by the British government for trips to the Caribbean?

Cosmopolitan London hosted last week the 36th edition of World Travel Market, the third largest fair of the travel and tourism industry worldwide. This event had historically been one of the outmost settings for Caribbean islands, members of CTO, so most of them used to attend it due to its significance to the travel sector as a whole and, specifically, to the British market.

In this edition, marked by economic recovery and the tourism rekindling of the overall European market, it’s important to point out the absence of some destinations that had attended in previous years, with superb stands and countless meetings on their agendas.

Some of the most outstanding absences in this edition were Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Martinique, Curacao, Turks & Caicos, St. Kitts & Nevis, among others. Only seven CTO members were in attendance at WTM 2015: Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia and Venezuela.

Is this high-profile absence of destinations related in any way to the air passenger duty (APD) levied by the British government for flights from the United Kingdom to the Caribbean? CTO has been fighting against this taxation for a long time as it has led British travelers to choosing alternative destinations, thus destroying the Caribbean’s positioning as top-of-mind choices for tourists.

The British government announced that tourists between the ages of 12 and 16 won’t have to pay that duty starting on March 1, 2016, but is it still one of the main obstacles for Caribbean destinations to attract tourists from the British market?

Within the framework of WTM, we asked CTO sources about the stampede of destinations in this edition and the reason why they think those countries had put aside the opportunity to attend an event of such scope, with a European market that is gaining momentum once again. The answer was direct: “This is the end of the year and those destinations have run out of budget funds.”

This convincing and fast answer makes me wonder… nineteen Caribbean destinations have not saved budget for such an event that is scheduled all along with other outstanding meetings since the early days of the year? What if these member countries of the CTO have decided not to give in to the British government and they have skipped WTM as a protest against APD?