PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - A few weeks back the T&T Guardian carried a column by British High Commissioner Arthur Snell about Air Passenger Duty (APD). It defended the tariff and pointed out: 1) statistically there is no evidence to say APD stops tourism to the Caribbean; 2) the main problem with the Caribbean tourism product is it is too expensive; and 3) that APD “aims to offset the negative environmental effects of long-haul air travel.”
Now it is worth pointing out that few in the Caribbean claimed APD is stopping tourism; rather many stress it is unfair—and the High Commissioner’s own figures bore that out. The second thing was the High Commissioner’s argument about “tourism product” costs, which, while true relatively, mask a problem often ignored in discussion about APD: APD affects the ability of many Caribbean emigrants and Caribbean people living in the Diaspora to return, travel back, and visit the Caribbean.