Airport/border security tax contract signed - Bantaba in Cyberspace
The decision by the Barrow administration to impose a $20 airport/border security tax on passengers going through Banjul International Airport has attracted immediate negative response from IATA and the tourist operators.
Archive note: the original publication date could not be verified. March 14, 2021 is an assigned catalogue date for this record.
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The decision by the Barrow administration to impose a $20 airport/border security tax on passengers going through Banjul International Airport has attracted immediate negative response from IATA and the tourist operators.
Is the idea for $20 on entry and another $20 on leaving the Gambia or just $20 payable ONCE ? Reading the full Blog entry it appears to mean a total of $40 for passengers.
However it must be remembered that a terrorist threat is no respect of any country where tourists visit as history has shown.
It is also a fact that tourists visiting Gambia do enter via neighboring countries by ROAD and SEA and will therefore not be liable for this proposed taxation.
It is obvious that tourists to NEW Gambia will be put off by the proposed tax and chose to go elsewhere.
The blog states at the end that ".........In subsequent blog post, we will take an in depth look at SECURIPORT, its track record, the manner in which the contract award was handled ....."
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
The contract signed by the Interior Minister with the Washington-based airport security firm, SECURIPORT, and co-signed by the Director General of Immigration and the Secretary to Cabinet of the Office of The President that became effective on the 21st September, 2018 is already posing additional challenges to the Barrow government.
The $20.00 airport security tax for each airline passenger traveling to and from Banjul International Airport - or $40.00 for each return ticket holder - proposed by government to go into effect next January was immediately opposed by airlines and tour operators alike. FTI, the German tour operator's letter of October 30th, 2018 addressed to the Secretary General informed government that proposed tax comes with added hidden costs of $15.00 due to VAT and rental commissions to be paid in the destination of origin, increasing the total figure to $55.00 instead of $40.00.
"We welcome government’s decision to rescind its decision to impose an airport security on all airline passengers using BIA; a tax of that would have devastated a fragile tourism sector that is still struggling to recover from the Ebola and impasse crises."