Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter 
ASSAMBA
MINISTER OF Industry and Tourism, Aloun Assamba has said that the Government would be introducing the Tourism Enhancement Fee on May 1. This fee will see visitors to the island forking out US$10 to be paid over to the Government.
The Minister made the disclosure on Wednesday during the Standing Finance Committee meeting of Parliament, which is considering the 2005/06 estimates of expenditure.
Minister Assamba said already a Board has been appointed and will be meeting for the first time next week. "The administrative work has been done. We have had negotiations with the IATA (International Air Transport Association) and all the various agencies that would be collecting on our behalf. The Board has been approved. The Board will meet next week for the first time."
CONCERNS
She was responding to queries about the fees from Opposition Spokesman on Tourism, Edmund Bartlett. Mr. Bartlett also expressed concerns that the Board had been appointed and that a member of the Opposition was not on it.
The fee is expected to go towards the sustainability of the tourism product and forms part of the Tourism Master Plan developed by a special task force of persons involved in the trade.
A US$10 fee will be collected from airline passengers while US$2 will be collected from cruise ship travellers. The introduction of the fee drew harsh criticisms from members of the tourism sector including hotel mogul, John Issa, of Super Clubs, and the Opposition.
In May last year, Mr. Issa described the fee as a head tax, set to add to the already burdensome level of tourism taxation. But Industry and Tourism Minister Assamba had responded by saying, "I am not taxing the hoteliers, attraction owners or the Jamaican people. I am asking the visitors coming into the island to contribute to the enhancement and the sustainability of the tourism product."
