{"id":8245,"date":"2017-10-13T10:50:32","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T14:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=8245"},"modified":"2017-10-13T10:50:32","modified_gmt":"2017-10-13T14:50:32","slug":"hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoteliers taking too much, PM Browne advocates national ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Prime Minister Gaston Browne wants his and other Caribbean governments to acquire ownership in hotels.<\/span><\/p>

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Browne said it is \u201cabsolutely critical\u201d that regional governments acquire ownership of hotel properties because the sector today is operating like a plantation industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hoteliers, they are brutal in their requirements, they ask for up to 25 years concessions on everything, they don\u2019t want to pay no taxes, when their tax (exemptions) run out they come back and they insist you must renew it, and when you decide you don\u2019t want to do it because you are trying to protect government\u2019s revenue, they hold you hostage to fortune,\u201d Browne said.<\/span><\/p>

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In his delivery, reminiscent of a summer fallout between the government and Sandals Resorts, the prime minister noted that hotel owners are demanding subsidies for electricity and other resources.\u00a0<\/span>He said they (hoteliers) do not want to pay on food and beverage, and \u201ceven the stationery that they import into this country they don\u2019t want to pay anything on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

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Browne said his administration is pursuing a policy of entrepreneurial socialism, in which the government will partner with the private sector to establish businesses that, ordinarily, neither entity could pursue on its own.<\/span><\/p>\n

He referred to the hotel sector as an ‘extractive industry’ and added that the only way to resolve it is for the government to have greater ownership.\u00a0<\/span>PM Browne said Antigua and Barbuda is leading the way in this regard, and is willing to risk finances to benefit the country and its people.<\/span><\/p>

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\u201cAnd this is not a socialistic policy. It is very much capitalistic in which we are saying here, look, we will risk our capital. We will borrow the money, we will invest in these hotels and we will lease them to the private sector to operate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to run hotels, we don\u2019t have the expertise to run hotels, but we are creative enough to raise the funds so that we can build hotels for the benefit of the people of Antigua and Barbuda,\u201d said the PM.<\/span><\/p>

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Browne noted that there must be some balance, and added that he is aware that investors must make a profit, which the government wants to see, but they must treat the government, the workers and other entities and stakeholders with respect.\u00a0<\/span>He said the government cannot preside over an economy in which hoteliers are treating the workers as commodities for exploitation.<\/span><\/p>

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According to PM Browne, if there is not a trickle down effect from a sector which contributes 75 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), \u201cthen you will end up with an under class and a super class.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Prime Minister Gaston Browne wants his and other Caribbean governments to acquire ownership in hotels. Browne said it is \u201cabsolutely critical\u201d that regional governments acquire ownership of hotel properties because the sector today is operating like a plantation industry. \u201cThe hoteliers, they are brutal in their requirements, they ask for up to 25 years concessions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-tourism"],"yoast_head":"\nHoteliers taking too much, PM Browne advocates national ownership - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hoteliers taking too much, PM Browne advocates national ownership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prime Minister Gaston Browne wants his and other Caribbean governments to acquire ownership in hotels. Browne said it is \u201cabsolutely critical\u201d that regional governments acquire ownership of hotel properties because the sector today is operating like a plantation industry. \u201cThe hoteliers, they are brutal in their requirements, they ask for up to 25 years concessions […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-13T14:50:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/caribbean-hotel.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"784\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"523\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Hoteliers taking too much, PM Browne advocates national ownership\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-13T14:50:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-13T14:50:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership\/\"},\"wordCount\":453,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:784\/h:523\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/caribbean-hotel.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"News\",\"Tourism\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/hoteliers-taking-too-much-pm-browne-advocates-national-ownership\/\",\"name\":\"Hoteliers taking too much, PM Browne advocates national ownership - 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