The high cost of travelling within the region is linked to the high cost of living being experienced by citizens in most member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

It is rather unfortunate that some of our leaders would choose to scapegoat LIAT for the almost ridiculous state of affairs that currently exist for the cost of airline tickets in the various islands. The government needs to inform the public on all the factors involved in the pricing mechanisms including their take in terms of taxes on each airline ticket that is sold across the region.

As one leading industry official told GRENADA TODAY, in the case of Grenada the travelling public have to pay in excess of $230.00 in taxes either directly to government or the Grenada Airports Authority (GAA) for each ticket that is purchased for travelling purposes.

In such a situation it is only obvious that the airline has to put a mark up on each ticket sold to make a profit, as well as the travel agents who need to put up their own mark up in order to continue doing business in the industry.

With these high taxes on tickets, the only conclusion that one can arrive at is that the days of cheap tickets for intra-regional travel are long gone and over. That¹s why GRENADA TODAY was taken aback by the statement put out by government following a meeting between newly installed Finance Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell and Price Control Inspectors seeking to blame the local traffickers for contributing to the high cost of goods in the country and the escalating cost of living.

It is rather unfortunate that the traffickers do not have any organised body to respond to such statements and to set the record clear. The Prime Minister and his team in the Ministry of Finance are only trying to scapegoat the traffickers for the deteriorating situation in the country where prices of goods and services are concerned.

The trafficker no longer benefits from the cheap fares that used to exist five years ago on travel to Trinidad. The stiff competition that existed between LIAT and its then rival, Caribbean Star resulted in a price war that saw airline tickets being lowered to under $200.00 for travel between Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago.

Both airlines were accumulating large financial losses in their quest to maintain their share of the market. The end result is that the share-holder governments of LIAT in the Caribbean were often called upon to bail out the airline while in the case of Caribbean Star, the financial burden fell at the feet of its owner, Texan billionaire, Alan Stanford.

The trafficker is now forced to find each week in excess of $500.00 to travel down to Trinidad to ply his trade. It is quite obvious that he/she needs to recover the cost of the ticket and the consumer would have to pay through increased prices on goods brought back into the country. This strictly common sense in business.

The situation in the country is not helped by the fact that Grenada is not mainly a consuming nation with nothing much to export to Trinidad and Tobago to help level the playing field in the area of trade and commerce.

There is no longer the selling of mangoes, golden apples, sour sop, coconuts and other fruits from the Spice Isle to Trinidad and Tobago.

Perhaps, the most lucrative thing that Grenada now exports to the twin island Republic is scraps of iron and old car parts from a few occasional traders. The vast majority of local traffickers week after week import the same set of goods into the country and are hardly making anything of substance to improve their financial status in the society.

Most traffickers would tell you that if they had a viable alternative they would get out of the business since the trade is no longer profitable.
Those who are still doing good might have devised some kind of system and means in order to avoid paying their fair share of duties and taxes to the Government Treasury.

And the situation is compounded by the ever increasing cost of goods and services in Trinidad and Tobago. GRENADA TODAY sees a direct link between the cost of living on the island and the rising prices for airline tickets for travel in the region.

The oil rich republic to our south is our major trading partner and most of our businessmen have to deal with that market on a weekly basis, either through direct travel or through the weekly "schooner trade".

And the cost of doing business on the St. George¹s Port is known to be among the highest in any part of the region. The ball is now in the court of Prime Minister who has promised to go into the Ministry of Finance to deal with the ever-increasing cost of living for Grenadians!!!!