Parliament Approves Bill to Regulate Tourism Service Providers

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(photo courtesy antiguanice.com)

The Lower House of Parliament today passed a bill making it mandatory for all tourism service providers to obtain a license to operate.

The Tourism Licensing and Classification Bill was tabled in parliament by Tourism Minister, Charles Fernandez.

He said the bill will “seek to professionalize the tourism industry by ensuring the certification of selected enterprises and by extension their employees”.

A Tourism Industry Licensing Committee will be created to issue the necessary licenses.

Service providers who fail to obtain a license or comply with the provisions of the license will be liable to fines and imprisonment.

The bill also provides provisions for the development of standards governing the industry.

“Tourism inspectors will be checking to ensure that industry practitioners are delivering the required level of service”, the Minister noted.

According to the Minister, the new regulated system will also enable the government to clamp down on tax avoidance.

“All of the licensees will fall into that net so that apart from the fact that they’re all held to a standard they will also fall into the net where everybody now his/her fair share”, he said.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. I guess now we can move on full speed with AirBNB. And little people can make some money on the side. People please position yourself to be part of the tourism products. All you need is a self contained apartment When your guest are here you can offer them other services like maid service, tour guide, car rental and you can be a great host to them and give them a vacation stay to remember.

  2. The photograph at the top looks very familiar as in very old. It would be interesting to see a current photograph of the same beach in 2019. I doubt the comparison would be favorable. Just saying. Protecting beach assets from development, trash dumping, sargassum seaweed and crime needs to be a top priority.

    • ‘Foreigners’ offering day charters are already looked at.
      Boat/yacht/small craft has to be licensed in Antigua. ADOMS require a safety survey for this license. The Skipper has to have Boatmaster certification or equivalent and said foreigner needs a work permit to operate. I’m not sure what more licensing boat operators can handle, local or foreign.

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