A meeting was recently held in the San Andrés Archipelago, led by the political party, Centro Democrático, and chaired by former President Álvaro Uribe. During the meeting, the exemption from Value Added Tax (VAT) in the price of gasoline and air tickets on the island was discussed. The former president asked the National Government to eliminate these costs for the island.
In order to alleviate the current crisis, a petition has been made to Petro, the Government and the relevant political parties to take action in this regard.
“Here it has been said that one of the obstacles is the price of gasoline and then it has been requested that the National Government seek to remove VAT from airplane gasoline, which could also lead to agreements with airlines to favorable rates, to recover a high level of tourism,” said the former president.
In addition to this, during the meeting, the inhabitants presented serious complaints related to their environment. Some artisanal fishermen expressed their concern about the lack of guarantees and security to be able to work on the high seas, which is due to the presence of Nicaraguan-flagged vessels.
“A boat was docked, there they took all the product from us and locked the crew in the ship’s hold, if it weren’t for other ships 14 people would have died, one calls the coast guard and they arrive one or two days later. Nicaraguans walk around his house like Pedro, especially in him Quita Sueño and Serrana fell and armed with AK 47 ″, denounced one of the attendees.
It is important to mention that, on April 3, the Attorney General’s Office urged the Government to bring solutions to the island of San Andrés y Providencia, which has seen a reduction in the arrival of tourists in more than one 68 percentthis as a consequence of the airline crisis and the high cost of fuel.
The Island went from having 34 daily flights to 8 which has caused the increase in the price of tickets affecting the hotel offer and commerce with losses of approximately 75 billion pesos.
The island received 131,000 tourists every month, but now due to the problems it is experiencing, the figure is reduced to just over half. Fair In this Easter season, hotel occupancy, according to Cotelco, does not even reach 25 percent of the offer.