{"id":8983,"date":"2017-11-07T16:52:18","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T20:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=8983"},"modified":"2017-11-07T16:52:18","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T20:52:18","slug":"upp-fears-world-travel-market-fallout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/upp-fears-world-travel-market-fallout\/","title":{"rendered":"UPP fears World Travel Market fallout"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The United Progressive Party (UPP) is calling for a return to sane investor relations amidst fears that Gaston Browne’s actions have severely damaged the country’s prospects to attract new investors at the November 6-8 World Travel Market in London.<\/p>

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“The unassailable fact is: Gaston Browne has not created a single new tourism sector job in almost 4 years. How then can he question legitimate concessions granted to facilitate the creation of 700 permanent jobs? How dare a man who has facilitated a grand total of zero new hotel rooms baselessly criticize an arrangement which realized 180 new rooms?” Senator Harold Lovell said.<\/p>\n

He adds “How does Gaston Browne sleep at night knowing that he is denying hundreds of Antiguans gainful employment through his continued erosion of the country’s investment climate?”<\/p>

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The UPP says it also wishes to once again condemn Gaston Browne’s pernicious lies and clarify that the ABST concession granted in 2009 to the Sandals Group is 100 percent legal.\u00a0 It says Section 16 of the Finance Administration Act 2006 gave discretion to the then Minister of Finance, Dr. Errol Cort.<\/p>

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The UPP noted that in the March 2000 Lester Bird of the Antigua Labour Party granted Sandals concessions on two taxes \u2013 The Hotel Tax and Guest Levy – to incentivize the construction of the Sandals Grande. After the change of government, in Januarry 2009 ABST was introduced, with the Hotel Tax and Guest Levy being repealed. Thus the ABST concesson was authorised by Dr. Errol Cort to take into account the previous concessions granted under the Lester Bird government. In other words Sandals’ total concession value under the previous Lester Bird agreement would carry forward.<\/p>\n

“What is so unreasonable about that, especially to a complete investment procurement failure like Gaston Browne?” Lovell asked.<\/p>

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The Sandals concession was granted in order to ensure the constriction of the Sandals Grand Hotel, the economic impact of which is unquestioned. By contrast Gaston Browne has not secured a single new hotel investment. A 65% ABST discount was granted until the end of 2014; 60% discount until the end of 2022 and thereafter no discount, the UPP continued.<\/p>\n

The UPP says it is proud of its record, within a nearly equavalent 1st term timeframe.<\/p>

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Senator Harold Lovell says, \u201cUnder my tenure as Tourism Minister, we saw the opening of several hotel properties: The Verandah, Hermitage Bay, Sandals Grande, Sugar Ridge, Lighthouse Bay and the upgrade of many properties such as Blue Waters, Jumby Bay, Curtain Bluff and The Inn at English Harbour. We also saw the construction of 40+ small and medium sized properties and villas as a result of the UPP’s Special Incentives for Local Investors. Where are Gaston Browne’s ghost investments?\u201d<\/p>

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The United Progressive Party (UPP) is calling for a return to sane investor relations amidst fears that Gaston Browne’s actions have severely damaged the country’s prospects to attract new investors at the November 6-8 World Travel Market in London. “The unassailable fact is: Gaston Browne has not created a single new tourism sector job in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-2","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nUPP fears World Travel Market fallout - 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\/upp-fears-world-travel-market-fallout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UPP fears World Travel Market fallout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United Progressive Party (UPP) is calling for a return to sane investor relations amidst fears that Gaston Browne’s actions have severely damaged the country’s prospects to attract new investors at the November 6-8 World Travel Market in London. “The unassailable fact is: Gaston Browne has not created a single new tourism sector job in […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/upp-fears-world-travel-market-fallout\/\" \/>\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=\"2017-11-07T20:52:18+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\/08\/HAROLD-LOVELL-e1507229323301.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\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\/upp-fears-world-travel-market-fallout\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/upp-fears-world-travel-market-fallout\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"UPP fears World Travel Market fallout\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-07T20:52:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-07T20:52:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/upp-fears-world-travel-market-fallout\/\"},\"wordCount\":448,\"commentCount\":5,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/upp-fears-world-travel-market-fallout\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/upp-fears-world-travel-market-fallout\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/upp-fears-world-travel-market-fallout\/\",\"name\":\"UPP fears World Travel Market fallout - 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