The travel industry has been warned that more pain could be on the way with concerns that European countries will foist new departure taxes on travellers to boost their fragile budgets.
Outgoing Qantas chief economist Tony Webber, speaking at a Tourism and Transport Forum event, said the European Union had under consideration measures to increase passenger movement charges across the continent because governments could no longer rely on revenue from cigarette and alcohol taxes.
Dr Webber said 20 percent of Australia’s inbound tourists arrive from Europe.
Several European countries have been hiking their departure taxes, led by the UK, Germany and Austria. Visitor numbers to Australia from each of those three countries has been dwindling. British visitors in the year to February 2011 declined 3.6 percent.
Add in the high Aussie dollar, rising airfares, fuel taxes, and natural disasters in source markets and the tourism sector in facing challenging times, which the Australian government is likely to recognise in next week’s Budget with assistance to hard-hit destinations such as Cairns in north Queensland and Tasmania.
