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Industry told off for APD apathy
The industry has been urged not to give up its fight against rising Air Passenger Duty after the surprising results of a TravelMole Poll.
A poll of TravelMole UK subscribers, carried out following last month’s Budget, suggested that the vast majority think it’s time to accept the APD rise and ‘get on with it’.
The poll asked: "APD unchanged: should we just get on and accept it?"
It received 15,670 votes, of which nearly 98% voted "yes, we should accept it", while only 2% disagreed.
But Advantage Travel Centres leisure director Julia Lo Bue-Said said the poll is "a colossal retrograde step in the continued fight against APD".
"The industry has expressed clear consistent views on APD from the airlines to ABTA. From British businesses to the Chancellors own backbenchers that a review of APD was critical to deliver continued incremental growth for the Exchequer," she said.
"The Fair Tax on Flying campaign where over 200,000 signatures were received clearly proved the sentiment of this tax amongst the public at large. This petition was also ignored by the government.
"So with such a strong sentiment across all pillars of our industry, why do nearly 16,000 respondents believe we should just get on with it?
"Now is not the time to give up on this fight and now is certainly not the time for the industry to be seen to have accepted this sleuth tax as a fait accompli.
"We may have no choice right now but the industry cannot be seen as a soft touch and the lobbying must continue and we must not give up, the fight must go on!"
ABTA also urged the industry to carry on with its campaign.
"ABTA will not give up on fighting for the industry and we would caution against listening to those who prefer doom and gloom sound bites to the tough reality of direct lobbying," said a spokesman.
"This is a tough fight but the lobbying will continue and the campaign will go on."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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