on airline ticket tax
Travellers within the OECS could pay higher fares, after leaders agreed to a recommendation by tourism ministers for a new tax on airline tickets for travel within the sub region.
They took the decision at their meeting in the BVI last week. The new levy will be part of a wider initiative to set up a Caribbean Tourism Marketing Fund.
The fund will be administered jointly by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association.
The St Lucia-based OECS Secretariat is to help with drafting new legislation to facilitate the introduction of the tax.
Haiti braces for
hurricane season
Caribbean countries have been examining their disaster preparedness plans ahead of the start of the hurricane season on 1 June.
Forecasters have predicted nine to 14 named storms. Disaster preparedness officials in St Vincent and the Grenadines are meeting on Tuesday to discuss their level of readiness.
Haiti, meanwile, is bracing for another Hurricane season, as it cleans up from last week’s floods.
The country is still recovering from last year’s storms that claimed almost 800 lives.
BBC Caribbean’s correspondent in Port-au-Prince, Joseph Guyler Delva, says while the government does not have the funds to prepare for such disasters, there are measures that could be taken to assist those affected.
Puerto Rico reports
first swine flu case
Puerto Rico has reported its first confirmed case of swine flu – a 39-year-old man who returned from a week-long eastern Caribbean cruise.
Authorities in San Juan say they are also checking on people with whom the man had been in contact after he returned from the May 10 – 17 cruise.
Meanwhile the Dominican Republic says it is stepping up testing of people with flu symptoms.
That decision came after a Russian tourist, who spent 12 days at the premier beach resort, Punta Cana, was detected with the virus after he returned home.