A call is being made by Carvalho’s Cruise Services Ltd chief executive Charles Carvalho for the government to remove Value Added Tax (VAT) from the cruise ship industry in the next budget.
Speaking to the Express yesterday about the improvements he would like to see in the 2023 budget on Monday, Carvalho said that in 1985 legislation was passed for cargo ships to be VAT zero. He believes it is high time that VAT was removed from cruise ships that bring in US currency.
“I don’t think that when VAT was introduced, the term used for offshore vessels would have meant cruise ships and yachts. I have recently noticed that VAT has been removed from the yachting industry but not from the cruise industry. We must do everything in our power to attract cruise ship lines to revisit our shores,” Carvalho stressed.
He noted that, recently, the world has begun to take global warming seriously, and cruise lines have already begun to reduce carbon emissions and build new ships to use natural gas and methanol. The cruise industry is also encouraging ports to use shore power, meaning that when a cruise ship is in port, it will connect to the country’s grids.
“I was pleased to see Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at a recent press conference indicating that Trinidad will soon be a major destination for ship fueling with methanol,” he said.
Carvalho said he would like to see the tourism industry turn its marketing efforts toward cruise passengers rather than cruise lines.
“It is passenger demand for ships to include Trinidad and Tobago in their itineraries that would make the difference. I am sure this would see more cruise ships in our three cruise ports within Trinidad and Tobago,” he described.
Furthermore, the executive is convinced that the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts needs a larger share of the national budget that can go towards “marketing and improving sites and attractions”.
Carvalho explained that those additional resources should be specific and not go toward local sponsorship at the event.
“Those events should have their own marketing budget. By increasing the ministry’s budget, we would now see it receive the attention it has lacked for a long time,” he added.
