UKInbound says the Government’s plans for a double inflationary rise in air passenger duty next April, in a year when Britain will host the Olympic Games and the country celebrates the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, will be disastrous for tourism.
Chief executive Mary Rance said the delayed rise in APD, announced in the Budget yesterday, was ‘a small measure to halt the further decline in the competitiveness of the UK as a destination’.
She said this was particularly so in the light of the fact there will be a double rise next year.
Rance added: "The APD freeze will simply not be sufficient in itself to move the UK up the rankings to become one of the top five destinations in the world. The UK still taxes travel at a much higher level than any other European country. The Chancellor is sticking plaster on the wound."
She said the Budget had been heralded as one for growth, but it delivered no special measures or investment support for tourism, which has been challenged with delivering an additional four million visitors over the next four years.
Rance welcomed the Government’s consultation on the air passenger duty banding system as a first step towards achieving greater equity in the taxation system, which currently penalises long haul and emerging markets, but she warned any changes would not result in growth in inbound tourism for some time.
