Caribbean hoteliers hit back at taxation claims by Guyana president
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association has issued a statement strongly rejecting comments by Guyana's president Bharrat Jagdeo over taxation.
At a recent press conference in St Kitts, president Jagdeo said it was “absolute nonsense” that governments are taxing hotels out of existence.
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association said members were disappointed by the Guyana president's “unfortunate remarks".
Josef Forstmayr, president of CHTA, said: "With all due respect, the CHTA is of the view that president Jagdeo speaks from a misinformed position on taxation in the various islands throughout the region and with little or no knowledge of the tourism industry and the contribution it makes to Caribbean economies.
"It is quite obvious that our political leaders have a narrow and limited perspective on the far-reaching positive effects of tourism on our Caribbean economies."
He added: "CHTA would like to extend an open invitation to president Jagdeo, and anyone else misinformed, to a discussion forum on tourism to explore the overwhelming, sometimes immeasurable but undeniable impact that tourism has on our Caribbean economies."
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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