By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A former Association of The Bahamas (ABM) president yesterday argued that this nation will be a hard sell at the upcoming Monaco Yacht Show due to increased taxes and fees levied on the industry.

Peter Maury told Tribune Business that while the event presents a great opportunity for Bahamian marinas to court European business from yacht brokers and their clients, the market will compare the 10 percent VAT that was imposed on foreign yacht charters last year - making an effective rate of 14 percent when added to the existing 4 percent Port Department fee - with zero to lower taxes in the rest of the Caribbean.

“Hopefully these yachts in Monaco will be leaving Europe and coming over to the Caribbean and The Bahamas for the winter, and we’re hoping that we can give them enough information to encourage them to come to The Bahamas," he added.

"[But] a lot of brokers have told us they are booking the Caribbean because of these higher fees. Basically, we have a 14 percent tax when the rest of the Caribbean has zero. They don’t charge anything to have these people come over to spend their money in their country when we are. We are just pushing them out the best way we can.

"We have boats from Florida, but a lot of the bigger boats come from Europe, so they cross the Atlantic or they get shipped over and then they get dropped in the Caribbean. So if they’re shipped over we have to try to get them up to The Bahamas. The Bahamas is further than the Caribbean on the European side. We can’t take European yacht business for granted because they can opt to head to the Caribbean as opposed to coming to The Bahamas," Mr Maury continued.

“But I know a lot of people that like sending their clients to The Bahamas. It’s a beautiful country, but because it's become so difficult with all of these new taxes and filings and everything else, now they're saying you're going to have a task force to go on the boats and arrest the people. People get scared of that. They don't want to get into any of that.”