| Andorra businessmen and women are normally | | | | The activities that would be naturally attractive to |
| counting their takings at the end of the country's ski | | | | tourists and easily catered for are hill and mountain |
| season, but after the worst year for tourism for | | | | walking, hiking and pony trekking. |
| twenty years some are instead counting their | | | | Andorra The Tax Haven |
| blessings that they are in business still at all. | | | | Andorra is fortunate compared to many regions |
| While some might consider this year - when the first | | | | where ski holidays are an important part of the |
| meaningful snow fell in mid March instead of mid | | | | economy, as it is also a tax haven, second only to |
| November - a rare event, others are considering a | | | | Monaco in Europe for popularity, and equal in tax |
| future where diversification could be the key to their | | | | benefits. |
| survival and continued profitability. | | | | As well as attracting new residents with high net |
| The Andorra government has worries too that | | | | wealth who contribute to Andorra's economy while in |
| recent investment in the infrastructure might not pay | | | | residence with their spending power, Andorra has a |
| off. Millions of Euros have been spent on upgrading | | | | good banking system that provides good |
| the roads and other facilities, while private money has | | | | employment prospects. |
| seen the building of new quality hotels close to the | | | | To obtain residency in Andorra, applications need to |
| ski slopes. | | | | be submitted in Catalan. A notarised copy of the |
| That investment was made on the basis of twenty | | | | applicants passport, birth certificate and a certificate |
| years of continued growth for Andorra, to the | | | | of good conduct from the home country are |
| extent that in recent years over ten million tourists | | | | submitted at the same time. Residency normally |
| have visited Andorra a year, a remarkable figure | | | | takes between three and six months to be |
| given a resident population of just seventy thousand. | | | | approved. |
| But the investment was made for the ski season of | | | | Once residency is granted, residents are supposed to |
| early December to late April, when the vast majority | | | | spend six months a year in Andorra, but this isn't |
| of the tourists arrived, and little had been planned for | | | | policed. |
| the rest of the year. The season was so bad for | | | | One of the drawbacks for those looking to become |
| 2006/7 that the ski slopes were closed three weeks | | | | a resident in a tax haven when considering Andorra |
| earlier than normal. | | | | has been that the country has no airport of its own, |
| Andorra is now looking to market her best assets, | | | | and is unlikely to have ine future given that it is |
| the Pyrenees mountains, to spring, summer and | | | | located in the Pyrenees. The nearest airports are |
| autumn tourists to try and make up the winter | | | | Barcelona and Toulouse. |
| shortfall. And if this season was a one-off rather than | | | | Recent improvements in the road from Barcelona to |
| a regular event it will come as a boost to the tourist | | | | Andorra though have cut the travelling time by some |
| trade rather than an alternative one. | | | | thirty minutes to two hours fifteen minutes. |