The newly elected Tory-Liberal administration in the United Kingdom has won plaudits from the regional tourism sector for its dropping of the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD)  on individual airline tickets to the Caribbean in favour of a new “per plane” levy.

The former Labour administration in London had attracted widespread political and tourism sector criticism here in the Caribbean last year after it slapped a so-called ‘green levy’ on airline tickets, designed to discourage long-haul flights by putting a financial burden on passengers. The tax was originally set at around 40 pounds sterling per ticket and rose to around 50 pounds last November. It was due to increase further, to around 75 pounds sterling by November this year.

Caribbean governments and regional tourist sector officials had lobbied the Labour administration hard in an effort to have the tax removed, coming as it did in the midst of the global economic recession and one of the more difficult years in the recent history of the regional tourism industry. Apart from the additional financial burden which the tax had placed on passengers, Caribbean governments and tourism officials had argued that the levy was discriminatory since some areas in the United States which were not affected by the heavy tax were actually further away from the United Kingdom than the Caribbean.

The abandonment by the British government of the APD in favour of the so-called per plane levy now means that airlines will now be charged per plane, a move that forces them to make efforts to fill their seats or, alternatively, to more aggressively pursue investment in fuel-efficient fleets.

Regional tourism officials were earlier this week cautiously optimistic that the move to drop the APD was good news for Caribbean tourist destinations, including Antigua, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica and Saint Lucia, which get around 1.5 million visitors annually from the UK market. They conceded though that the “per plane” option would mean that air fares to the region might still rise although not to the extent envisaged under the APD arrangement.

In Barbados, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism Andrew Cox was quoted by the Barbados Nation as saying that the APD had resulted in loss of tourism to that country. “If it is cheaper to fly to another destination because of that tax, that can’t be good for us,” Cox is quoted as saying.

Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Secretary-General Hugh Riley was decidedly upbeat about the removal of the APD, saying that he was “extremely happy” that the newly elected Tory-Liberal government in London had given the APD issue priority attention so early in its tenure. Meanwhile, Andy Harrison, Chief Executive of Britain’s largest airline, British Airways which expects to carry more than 50 million passengers in 2010, reportedly said he was looking forward to working with the new government in the United Kingdom, adding that it was desirable that there be a fairer and greener tax without increasing the burden on the flying public.

Up to Wednesday no government official here had offered a public comment on the issue though this newspaper understands that the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) would probably make a statement after some of the considerations associated with the removal of the APD and the application of the per plane levy were clarified.