WASHINGTON — Ambassador John Beale of Barbados, who steps down today as his island’s top diplomat here after six and a half years in Washington, recently answered some tough questions — ranging from the long-term impact of improving U.S.-Cuba relations on regional tourism to whether Caribbean islands are doing enough to fight international tax evasion.
This November, Barbados will mark its 50th anniversary of independence. But the 166-square-mile island long known as “Little England” has more than that to celebrate.
Economic difficulties in Europe and the ever-increasing air passenger duty (APD) imposed by Great Britain have combined to threaten the Barbados tourism industry.
Barbados, an island highly dependent on tourism, is reeling under continued economic difficulties in Europe — its main tourism market — as well as a pending hike in the U.K. airline passenger duty and several violent attacks against British nationals.
Donna Christiansen, the U.S. Virgin Islands’ non-voting delegate to Congress, is aggressively defending her territory’s right to use rum excise-tax rebates to lure companies such as Diageo to its shores.
A tax originally imposed by the British government to fight global warming is being viewed in the English-speaking Caribbean as a penalty against long-haul air travelers — and regional tourism officials are furious about it.
A Dow Jones/Factiva content provider since 2014
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