Thomas Cook May Shelve Jamaica Flights
Thomas Cook Airlines may well stop offering cheap flights to Jamaica next winter, according to reports from the Jamaican Tourism Ministry.
Last week, Jamaica's director of tourism John Lynch revealed that the package holiday's in-house air carrier had declined to make a firm commitment to operate cheap flights to Jamaica after November this year. In an interview with the Jamaica Observer newspaper, Mr Lynch said that the Caribbean holidays company was "having a problem" when it came to ticket sales for seats on its Jamaica flights for the winter 2011-12 period.
However, Mr Lynch did stress that the tourism authority was only in the earliest stages of talks with Thomas Cook Airlines.
However, Jamaica's Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said that the possibility that Thomas Cook would not be offering cheap flights to Jamaica next winter was a significant one that had to be taken seriously. Given the current concerns about the increased level of APD payable on flights to the Caribbean, the possibility seems even more likely.
"With all the other challenges out of the UK, such as Air Passenger Duty, we don't want to add airlift issues to that," the minister said.
He added that the government was currently considering doubling the $10 a head tax on tourists in order to raise funds for a promotional campaign in emergent tourism markets such as Brazil, China and Russia. Such monies would be earmarked for advertising, marketing and other promotional materials, he said.
For now, there is still a good variety of airlines offering cheap flights to Jamaica and other Caribbean destinations from the UK. Search online for the best bargains and the cheapest fares.
Cheap Flights News posted by 
on 14 February 2011
Jamaica flights, cheap flights, cheap flights to Jamaica, Caribbean holidays, flights to the Caribbean
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