Booking fees on all Villa Marina and Gaiety Theatre tickets will be abolished from midday on Monday (April 4). Hon David Cretney, Minister for Community, Culture and Leisure explained: ‘Our customers will recall that the booking fee was introduced in May last year as a result of the economic situation facing the Island when it became impossible for the administration costs to be absorbed into our budget.’ A review of the administrative charge was instigated by the Minister in response to customer feedback. Since May 2010 the fee has been set at ?1 per ticket for card sales of tickets with a face value over ?10. Mr Cretney continued: ‘A fairer system for covering such costs would be a fee per transaction rather than per ticket but to have done this would have needed expensive changes to computer software, which was impossible to justify. I feel if the fee can’t be applied fairly, it shouldn’t be applied at all so I have decided that the best course of action is to abolish the booking fee. ‘Plans for introducing the fee were in place before I took up this portfolio and I reluctantly went along with it because it is fairer for administration costs to be borne by the user rather than fall on the taxpayer. ‘It is most important that customers are content with our pricing structure and continue to support Villa and Gaiety shows in order that we can continue to stage the quality and variety of concerts and productions people have come to expect,’ Minister Cretney added. ‘The Villa Marina and Gaiety Theatre management is in the process of developing a new ticketing system to provide customers with an improved service and make booking on the internet easier. That could facilitate a move to a per transaction fee in the future, which is clearly the preferred method for convenience and elimination of costs incurred for cash handling.’ -Ends-