By Eliane Portillo

The Minister of Tourism of St. Kitts and Nevis, Richard Skerritt, called on the region to protest against the tax hike that the United Kingdom has imposed on anyone flying to the Caribbean.

The 2011 economic measure on travelers venturing on the long-range flight will increase from 132 to 143 dollars per person in April, thus affecting the Caribbean tourism industry.

Mr. Skerritt, head of the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), defined the announced tax rise as a slap in the face of all Caribbean peoples.

He added that the Caribbean is the region that depends most on tourism and the UK is ignoring the negative effect of that measure on these countries' economies, travelers and the travel industry from that European country.

Skerritt noted that the British tax is discriminatory, because it penalizes the Caribbean more than other competing destinations, and has affected Caribbean citizens who reside in the UK, who are not rich and have to return home.