Tourism arrivals in Antigua and Barbuda from the regional travel market have been negatively impacted by the inadequate airlifts within the Caribbean.

So says the Chief Executive Officer of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority. During an interview with Pointe F.M. over the weekend, he said that the pandemic has greatly affected the Caribbean’s recovery, with unreliable intra-regional airline service being the main reason behind it.

In the past, the Canadian and Caribbean markets competed to become the third most crucial market for Antigua and Barbuda.

However, due to the lack of dependable airline services, the Caribbean market has been slow to return to pre-pandemic levels.

This lack of airlifts has been hurting intra-regional travel for some time, making people hesitant to travel for Carnival, cricket, business, or family events. James believes that LIAT 2020 is critical to solving the intra-regional travel challenges and that overcoming these challenges will result in an increase in intra-regional travel.

Additionally, Caribbean governments should reconsider the taxes placed on tickets for regional travel. James revealed that the Antigua and Barbuda government has committed to reconsidering the travel tax and urges all governments to eliminate or reduce these taxes by fifty percent to make traveling more affordable and increase revenue.