PM Browne Cancels Sandals’ ABST Concession Over Failure to Rebuild Hotel Wing
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has announced the cancellation of a longstanding Antigua Barbuda Sales Tax (ABST) concession granted to Sandals Resorts International, citing the company’s failure to fulfill its promise to rebuild an aging wing of its Antigua property.
Speaking on Pointe FM, Browne revealed that four years ago, the government had agreed to waive a portion of Sandals’ ABST obligations in exchange for a commitment from the company to renovate the original wing of its hotel, which is now over 40 years old.
Browne explained that the concession was intended to incentivize Sandals to make substantial upgrades to its facilities, ensuring that the property remained competitive in Antigua’s vital tourism sector.
However, he criticized the resort chain for not delivering on this commitment, describing the situation as a breach of trust that has cost the government millions in forgone tax revenue.
“We made this concession in good faith, expecting Sandals to reinvest in their property and elevate the destination,” Browne stated. “Four years later, there’s no new build, yet Sandals has continued to benefit from these tax breaks.”
Following Sandals’ failure to meet its renovation obligations, Browne announced that the government has now revoked the ABST concession.
The waived ABST arrangement has instead allowed the company to reduce its tax burden without delivering the anticipated improvements, according to Browne.
He estimated that Sandals has saved millions over the past several years through these deductions, which the government now aims to redirect back into public revenue.
As tensions rise, Sandals has yet to issue a response to the Prime Minister.
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Ok ABLP posters. Now we learned that Gaston continued the UPP concession that all of you have stated was so bad. You however never had anything to say about the bad Head Tax instituted by Gaston and Lester. However we now know that this new episode is about Sandals failing to honour the “deal”, which I believe included other things as well. This remind me so much if the time the ABLP said there was so much UPP mismanagement then when Gaston took over he said Lovell had cut all the “fat” and there was nothing more for him to do. Of course all if this went through one ear of the labourites and came out the next without impacting anything in between.
Add the Carlisle hotel from Old Road to the list. guest complain of paint smell in room water leaking when it rain construction noise. they need to close it not right at all.
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