Cayman Islands welcomes long lobbied reduction in APD for UK travelers

Cayman Islands Welcomes Long Lobbied Reduction in APD for UK Travellers

Cayman Islands Welcomes Long Lobbied Reduction in APD for UK Travellers
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands (19 March 2014) The Cayman Islands is pleased to welcome the long anticipated news of reduced Air Passenger Duty (APD) for long haul visitors from the United Kingdom. APD is an excise duty which is charged to passengers flying from a United Kingdom airport. Announced by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, today during his annual budget speech to Parliament in London, the APD will be reformed for implementation in April 2015.

In his announcement, the Chancellor explained that โ€œthe APD will be simplified into a two band system: Band A for short haul flights of less than 2,000 miles from London and Band B for all long haul flights more than 2,000 miles from London. The new Band B will be charged at the planned rate in 2015-16 (ยฃ71 for reduced rate passengers and ยฃ142 for standard rate passengers).โ€

This reduction provides a significant break for those who have been considering a Cayman Islands or Caribbean vacation. In the past, travellers from this market were charged a higher rate of APD to travel to destinations within the Caribbean than to the United States, which put Caribbean destinations including the Cayman Islands at a clear competitive disadvantage.

โ€œAs a country we have lobbied independently for this reduction and we are enormously pleased that our efforts have paid off. We have also been supportive of the positioning taken by the Caribbean Tourism Organization who has been lobbying since 2010 for this reduction and other Caribbean nations who have been similarly affected by this restrictive fee,โ€ commented Minister of Tourism, Hon. Moses Kirkconnell. โ€œBy having all long haul flights charged the same APD as travel to the US, we anticipate a levelling of the playing field and that this new reduced fee structure in turn should open up travel opportunities from the UK for leisure travellers. The Cayman Islands is looking forward to welcoming these long haul passengers in 2015 and beyond.โ€

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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