The government has decreased the airport service tax from US$35 to US$20 in a bid to boost regional travel to the Island, according to a statement from the Government Information Service.
Given the high cost of inter-regional travel, Tourism and International Transport Minister Ian Gooding-Edghill told Parliament last week that the six-month cut was designed to boost CARICOM tourism to Barbados and, by extension, the local market.
“We recognize that the CARICOM market is price sensitive [and] we recognize that if we are going to drive traffic to the destination in the absence of what was LIAT in its former form,” he said.
“We took this step because we were confident that lowering the airport service charge would encourage regional travel as well as increase arrivals from the Caribbean into Barbados.”
The interim cut is set to expire on December 14, 2023.
He also told the House that his ministry was in talks with regional airlines like Air Antilles and InterCaribbean to increase the number of weekly flights to the island, adding, “I am pleased to say, based on the load factors coming out of both regional carriers, that we are seeing an increase in the number of arrivals from within CARICOM.”
