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Yearwood Proposes Hotel Stimulus

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Economy
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 02:30
By Carol Williams
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Yearwood Proposes Hotel StimulusAntigua, St. John's - Veteran parliamentarian Robin Yearwood has challenged the government to come up with a stimulus for hotels, even as he lambasted the administration for overseeing a series of failed policies.

"What I think you should do is for the summer - July, August, and September -  take off the VAT," he told legislators. "Give them that to catch themselves... While they are open, they must keep at least 75 per cent of their regular employees employed... but the hotels want a help."

He noted, "It (should) only be given to hotels that are open 11 months a year."

Yearwood quoted figures which confirmed that hotels had been suffering financial losses for the past four years.

He said this stood at 10.12 per cent in 2009; 14.83 per cent in 2010; 7.41 per cent  in 2011, and 3.62 per cent in 2012.

These figures could not be independently verified by the Antigua Hotels and Tourist Association.

In his contribution to the budget debate, the St Phillip North parliamentary representative also accused the administration of perpetrating the very thing it had accused past members of -  selling state lands at peppercorn prices.

The former minister of finance claimed 14 acres of land at Pearns, in the south of the island, had been sold to an investor for US$1.5 M.

This investor also received other benefits, like a waiver of stamp duties, he alleged.

Labeling the government "wicked," Yearwood said parcels of land had been sold for between $990,000 to $3.4 M.


"So one plot of beachfront land, which was 1.34 acres, (he) was able to pay off for the whole thing with money...." he said heatedly.

The ongoing budget debate prevented Caribarena from seeking a comment from Minister of Agriculture Hilson Baptiste, who was attending the parliamentary session.

Yearwood also suggested that concessions granted to non-performing investors should be cancelled, pointing to waivers of up to 20 years that had been given to some beneficiaries.

But Finance and Economy Minister Harold Lovell interjected, and said performance clauses had been attached to such arrangements, ensuring that the benefits would be immediately revoked if the beneficiary fails to meet his/her obligations.

Nonetheless, the St Phillip North representative went on to speak about the challenges at Social Security.

He confirmed reports by the board about the amount of money owed by the former administration, though he insisted that some monies had been paid to the statutory organisation.

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14 Comments In This Article   

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"Upper market tourists ......(mostly UK tourists)"

#14 Get Real » 2013-01-11 15:44

FYI....they are not coming to ANU, that why the tourism industry is in its current state.....Not the upper, middle or lower market.
Your prices are too high, but you would rather have a hotel 1/3 filled with "upper market" tourist for $1500.00 US(CAD) + than filled with "tourist" for $1000.00 US(CAD)...My experience in talking with travellers is that they will always go where they get the most for their dollar (Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, DR). You have nothing exceptional to offer so why not set competitive prices to encourage people to visit?
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Get Real

@vicnes

#13 oversee » 2013-01-11 13:16

How long have you been asleep? Only now you have come to realize that Antiguan politicians are an absolute waste of time and space when it comes to negotiating; they have absolutely no clue and that applies to politicians of BOTH parties. Dato Tan etc. etc. are laughing heartily at our expense at how easily they dance rings around our politicians. One thing is certain and is in our favour: we can only go up for there is nothing left underneath!
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oversee

RE: Yearwood Proposes Hotel Stimulus

#12 ANTIGUAN WOMAN » 2013-01-10 15:59

Did the Alp not exist before Allan Stanford? Was Antigua not a sucessfull island before Allan Stanford? So on what evidence is your comment based.
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ANTIGUAN WOMAN

RE: Yearwood Proposes Hotel Stimulus

#11 ANTIGUAN WOMAN » 2013-01-10 15:54

I was just sitting here listening to Namba in parliament.,All i can say is Lord have mercy.Come een 2014.
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ANTIGUAN WOMAN

RE: Yearwood Proposes Hotel Stimulus

#10 Fisherman » 2013-01-10 07:16

Continue to bash tourism, one day soon enough the tourists will stop coming, then what?
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Fisherman

I applaud the man for providing solutions #1

#9 Observer.. » 2013-01-09 23:31

Tax holiday is only good if you make money. If you don't have a profit it doesn't mean anything. So if a hotel is presently losing money they need additional assistance in order to keep employment and keep their doors open in the interest of the country. I would like to see what the minister of Tourism has for idea to assist the hotels, rather than just touting his horn about something that every island is longtime doing. E-Marketing. And I sound like a broken record now but I’ll say it again, “We here at Caribarena have told Lovell that long time ago. We also told Mr. James. But like always they have to hear it from someone else and the n it sounds so smart. These fellows trust me have no clue what it takes to run a country. They are lost for ideas and they don’t want to accept any from their local citizens. Sad Sad Sad. But true.
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Observer..

I applaud the man for providing solutions #1

#8 Observer.. » 2013-01-09 23:25

When one provide solutions rather than just criticism of a problem I for one salute him/her. No one has the whole solution to any problem. Not everyone will ever agree with your views. When Education Levy was introduced there was a period that it was very un-popular. When the 2% tax was introduced same thing. But when we look back those ideas were good and better then what we have now. PIT is hated even after six years of introduction. It’s doing little good for the country and the economy. In the early years the economy was able to sustain it. But as soon as things went worse the PIT proved to be the biggest obstruction of the economy. It takes so much money out of people's discretionary spending. And leave business dry waiting on people to spend. Sorry you can only spend a dime once. Maybe the minister's idea is not the best but he has proven to think creative for solutions. And the only leverage a government has is with its tax system.
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Observer..

Tenman

#7 Vicnes » 2013-01-09 14:51

Tenman, I agree with you. Who the hell gives tax free concessions to luxury resorts and casinos in this day and age? The riches country in the world, the US, is going after all tax dodgers. One of the poorest countries in the world, Antigua, is giving free land and 25 year tax free concessions to luxury hotels and casinos. What’s wrong with that picture?

Antiguan politicians are morons. They don’t know how to properly negotiate business deals. That is the reason why the original owners of Halfmoon Bay never paid a dime for all that prime beachfront land or a nickel in corporate taxes; and now the current owner stands to gain 70 million US dollars for the land. Guiana Island was given free to the Asian investor and he was able to “flip” it and walk away with a cool 30 million US in profit. Our so called politicians are not even competent enough to run a lemonade stand. If all the beachfront properties were leased, the revenue received annually would be sufficient for the government to pay its workers on time and satisfy its other obligations.
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Vicnes

RE: Yearwood Proposes Hotel Stimulus

#6 Vicnes » 2013-01-09 14:28

The current economic crisis calls for bold action to truly stimulate the economy. Antigua badly needs a transparent, fair, simple and efficient tax plan. A 5/5/5 tax plan. 5% business transaction tax; 5% national sales tax, 5% personal income tax rate for everyone including the politicians. Doing away with all other taxes except on items imported for personal use.
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Vicnes

fire

#5 tenman » 2013-01-09 10:14

fire the hotels are already getting a partial ABST holiday. They (their guests)currentl y pay 12.5%. 2% of this is dedicated to tourism marketing (see http://www.antiguaobserver.com/?p=69382). The 2% was added recently. Before this, beginning in 2007, the hotel industry was only paying 10.5% ABST. More importantly many of these hotels have been given 20 - 25 years Corporate tax exemptions. I find the latter practice wrong, it should be based on an agreed to yield on their investment which can carry over in the lean years. They are probably still being supplied with duty free fuel based on a agreement signed in 2008. I can't see how its justified that tourists in general who on average make more moneys than the average citizen, get to pay less ABST.
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tenman

Not our ABST

#4 Voter » 2013-01-09 09:07

i agree that there is a need for a stimulus package, but not just for the hotels and surely not for them to get a penny of the ABST. Our hotels need to upgrade their plants and retrain their staff. Extend their concessions for a further 5years and tie it to improving linkages with our Farmers, manufactures etc. They are not the only operatives in the economy and every body are suffering, everybody need a stimulus. Christian and Lovell need to ease up on the pensioners that they take income tax from, they need to leave the Churches alone and do no go through with their plans to tax them. Everybody Robin, except you, need a stimulus!
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Voter

RE: Yearwood Proposes Hotel Stimulus

#3 fire » 2013-01-09 08:32

@tenman,
Wouldn't that be at additional cost at a time when the hotels are struggling to keep their doors open? Both you and the MP each provided half the solution; Give the hotels the ABST hotel and insist that the monies saved be used for bettering the product.

See how simple it is when we used our grey matter and not just oppose for the sake of politics?
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fire

RE: Yearwood Proposes Hotel Stimulus

#2 Hmmm » 2013-01-09 08:15

I dont understand that the ALP seems to be coming up with a lot of not soo bright ideas. They were in Government for a long time and in the past years leading up to their demise in 2004 we didnt hear of all these wonderful plans. As a matter of fact they had the manifesto which they had to pull back the were totally dependent on **... ALAN STANFORD.
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Hmmm

fix the product

#1 tenman » 2013-01-09 07:34

Do not agree with Robin in terms of a ABST holiday for hotels, the focus needs to be on bettering the product. During his debate the MP also stated that the guests he has interacted with complained about the quality of entertainment. In addition better marketing efforts have to be made in getting the upper market tourists we claimed was our niche (mostly UK tourists)


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tenman

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