Florida cruise official slams Caricom plan to tax passengers

Mr. Micky Arison
(FCCA Photo)

Thursday, October 9, 2003

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten: Caricom countries plan to impose a new tax on cruise passengers entering the region has come under severe criticism as the 11-member Florida Caribbean Cruise Association kicked off its 10th annual conference in Dutch St. Maarten yesterday.

Chairman of the FCCA, Mr. Micky Arison, called it unfair to make the cruise industry pay for shortfalls in regional tourism, the Associated Press reported last night.

"It's outrageous," Mr. Arison said. "If you want to create growth, you got to talk about incentives ... not about segregating one segment of the industry."

The Caribbean Tourism Organization, representing 34 countries, is due to vote during its conference next week in the U.S. Virgin Islands, on whether to impose the US$20 tax per passenger on ships making port calls. 

Caribbean officials and hoteliers have long accused the cruise ship industry of robbing revenues that should go to the islands without contributing much in return.

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