Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
George Alleyne, Nelson King, Vinette K. Pryce, Bert
Wilkinson
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, July 12–18, 2019 BQ
By Robert MacLellan,
Managing Director,
MacLellan & Associates
Can tourism dependent
Caribbean governments
learn something from oil
producing countries? When
relatively small and poor
oil producing governments
sought to get a fair price
for oil — their main source
of national revenue —
they banded together to
negotiate more effectively
with the multi-national oil
companies and the larger
developed nations, which
were the major consumers
of their oil. In 1960 five
of these countries came
together to found OPEC
— the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting
Countries — and were later
joined by nine additional
member states. As a result
of their joint stronger
bargaining power, oil prices
have risen relatively steadily
from US$1.63 per barrel
in 1960 to an average of
around US$77 during the
last 10 years.
The weak negotiating
position of individual
Caribbean governments
versus the massive cruise
line corporations, relative to
port taxes, poses similarities
to OPEC’s situation 60 years
ago and the same potential
“rebalancing” strategy
should now be pursued in the
Caribbean. If governments
across the whole region,
including Central America,
come together and form
OTEC — the Organization of
Tourism Economy Countries
— they can negotiate as
a cartel from a position of
greater strength with the
cruise lines. Currently,
when individual countries
try to increase port taxes,
they are threatened with
being dropped from cruise
itineraries and can be
picked off one by one by the
powerful cruise lines.
From a better bargaining
position, state or national
governments with single
destination cruise itineraries
— Alaska, Bermuda and
Hawaii —have already
negotiated higher cruise port
revenues than those in the
average Caribbean country.
Cruise ships stay two nights
in Bermuda and pay at least
US$50 per passenger. For
mainland United States and
Canada cruise itineraries,
an average of 33 percent of
the cruise ticket price goes
to port taxes, compared
to an average 14 percent
for a Caribbean itinerary.
By negotiating together,
governments in the Greater
Caribbean region can
achieve similar results to
these destinations with
higher port taxes.
A recent statement from
the government of Antigua
& Barbuda summarized the
history and current situation
of regional cruise taxes, as
follows. In 1993 CARICOM
countries initially agreed to
impose a minimum US$10
port head tax for cruise
passengers but this was
never implemented because
of internal disagreements.
A range of today’s head
taxes in the Caribbean is
as follows: US$18 – The
Bahamas and The British
Virgin Islands, US$15 –
Jamaica, US$13.25 – Puerto
Rico, US$7 - Belize, US$6 –
St. Kitts & Nevis, US$5 – St.
Lucia, US$4.50 – Grenada,
US$1.50 - Dominican
Republic.
Imagine the economic
benefit, if these cruise tax
rates could be increased
and standardized across the
region at the higher levels
listed. One directly relevant
and current challenge
could be addressed — the
current sky-high airport
and air ticket taxes in the
region could be reduced to
help increase the volume
of stay-over visitors in the
Caribbean.
Stay-over travelers,
whether intra-regional or
from outside the Caribbean,
spend very much more than
cruise ship passengers and
generate considerably more
local employment than
today’s cruise ship business
model, which is now highly
exploitive of Caribbean
countries. An increase in
stay-over visitors drives the
development of more hotels
and marinas, as well as many
other forms of real estate
and tourism infrastructure
investment. Reduced air
ticket prices keep intraregional
airlines, like LIAT,
flying and increase the
number of airline seats in
to Caribbean destinations
from the rest of the world.
The cruise industry
business model has changed
radically and aggressively in
the last 15 years and should
no longer be viewed as
an ideal “partner” for the
countries of the Caribbean.
There is a growing sense in
the islands with the highest
cruise ship volumes, like St.
Thomas and Sint Maarten,
that today’s port taxes are
not adequate compensation
for the overcrowding of down
town areas, the pollution
from the burning of heavy
To The Editor:
Public Advocate Jumaane D.
Williams has submitted a letter
to the Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD),
strongly opposing the proposed
rule which would prohibit the
HUD Secretary from providing
housing assistance to any
household where at least one
member is not of eligible
immigration status.
The public advocate writes
in response that “the proposed
rule fails to meet the HUD
Declaration of Purpose ‘...to
provide for full and appropriate
consideration, at the national
level, of the needs and interests
of the Nation’s communities
and of the people who live and
work in them.’” and urges it be
withdrawn “in favor of a housing
policy that actually serves and
benefits the people of New York
City and America.”
Full text of the Public
Advocate’s letter sent to the
Department of Housing and
Urban Development is below.
Dear Clerk:
I write to express my
objection with and opposition to
the Department of Housing and
Urban Development’s (“HUD”
or “the Department”) proposed
rule FR-6124-P-01, advanced
to curtail existing benefits of
housing assistance programs.
The very language published
by the Department in support
of the rule demonstrates that
the proposed rule operates on
flawed calculations in arriving
at its alleged benefit and openly
professes it will cause as much
— likely more — harm than
good. Taken as a whole, the
proposed rule fails to meet the
HUD Declaration of Purpose
“...to provide for full and
appropriate consideration, at
the national level, of the needs
and interests of the Nation’s
communities and of the people
who live and work in them.”
Under existing HUD
regulations, persons who are
not citizens of the United States
or hold a lawful residency
status (“ineligible”) may live
with family members who are
citizens or hold such residency
status (“eligible”) in subsidized
housing or in a household with
eligible members who receive
housing assistance. In these
circumstances, the amount
of assistance received by
the household is prorated to
exclude the ineligible member.
When this regulation was
first promulgated by HUD in
response to Section 214 of
the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1980, it was
done to enact the statute while
not jeopardizing the cohesion
of the family unit, correctly
considering maintaining such
cohesion in the interests of
American communities and
the people who live and work
in them.
The Department’s analysis
for FR-6124-P-01 claims
that the average annual
OP-EDS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR are welcome from all readers. They should be addressed care of this newspaper to the Editor,
Caribbean-Life Publications, 1 MetroTech Center North, Brooklyn, New York 11201, or sent via e-mail to caribbeanlife@
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address and telephone number included. Note that the address and telephone number will NOT be published and the
name will be published or withheld on request. No unsigned letters can be accepted for publication. The editor reserves
the right to edit all submissions.
Continued on Page 26
Continued on Page 12
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A call for Caribbean governments
to tax cruise sector more
and tax air passengers less
Williams opposes
proposed HUD
Immigrant Family rule
/schnepsmedia.com
