Yes Prime Minister: but what about Sir Humphreys APD

see speech at BBC click HERE

Geoffrey Lipman talks frankly, and in a personal capacity, to Valere Tjolle of Vision on Sustainable Tourism about the UK Prime Minister’s Tourism speech

VT: Great Tourism speech, by David Cameron, Geoffrey ?
 

GL: Outstanding support from UK Prime Minister David Cameron this week, stressing the importance of Tourism’s export and domestic financial contribution, as well as its huge link with mega sporting events; noting shortcomings of previous policies and reaching out for public/private sector collaboration to strengthen competitiveness and help rebalance the economy
 

Sadly, no imaginative links to the review of the massively unpopular and discriminatory Air Passenger Duty, which makes UK tourism increasingly less competitive and penalizes foreign countries’ tourism exports.  To add insult to injury APD was cynically touted when introduced as designed to help the environment, when everybody knows the proceeds just go into general revenues.

You can imagine the Whitehall planning in the mid 90’s “We’ll call it an air passenger duty, then we can pretend it’s not part of tourism policy (which is all about culture, media and sport). Yes then it can be buried in transport policy and aviation. And best of all because it’s part of economic strategy the Chancellor will have ultimate authority which means it’s unquestionable by any departments and we can hold up our hands, say no special pleadings and tie them in knots with no hypothecation mumbo jumbo language. Sir Humphrey Appleby the Civil Servant extraordinaire in Yes Prime Minister even in his finest moments could never have dreamed up that one
 

VT: The PM did however ask for suggestions to help strengthen the impending new tourism approach of his government . . Any thoughts on that ?
 

GL: It would be tempting to say scrap APD and its obviously adverse impact on tourism competitiveness.  Tempting, but naively unrealistic; at a time when massive budget balancing austerity is the first national and worldwide priority.  At the same time to quote from the Telegraph earlier this year when criticizing the previous government’s plan to raise APD yet again. ”They might consider the longer-term impact of this tax rise.. APD may appear to be a real revenue earner, but this does not account for the losses that will arise from falling visitor numbers, abandoned routes, lost jobs and airline failures, or from Britons hopping from the regions to European hubs such as Amsterdam, for long-haul connections to avoid hefty taxes on flights from Heathrow and Gatwick”  

Yes Prime Minister APD is a tourism created jobs killer as well, at a time when unemployment is becoming a top European and global priority.  There’s the real dilemma, .because as you so rightly said “Tourism is a fiercely competitive market, requiring skills, talent, enterprise and a government that backs Britain. It’s fundamental to the rebuilding & rebalancing of our economy. It’s one of the best and fastest ways of generating the jobs we need so badly in this country”
 

So why not use this APD monster you inherited really creatively – commit to reduce it progressively in line with budget deficit reduction. And at the same time – go back to the alleged policy intent and use it to underpin our sector’s huge potential to help the transformation to the Green Economy and to create jobs. Just take half the money collected exclusively from travelers and create a dedicated multibillion pound Tourism Green Economy Challenge Fund. Use it for low carbon green travel initiatives – air and surface transport, hospitality and related support, training and other services.  Matching pound for pound real pro environment industry originated projects that create new green jobs, just when and where they are most needed.  In a dynamic, creative sector with a proven, jobs and export potential.  Commit the funds only as the innovation is proposed and track publicly how routine green growth treasury income and jobs compensate for smart recycled  APD funds.
 

This would not only address the issue imaginatively but send a powerful global leadership message about real public/private sector collaboration at a time when there is so much PR talk about it and when other countries are looking at how to clone the tax opportunity. Who knows the UK might just give a global lead on shifting arbitrary unproductive taxation to imaginative multistakeholder investment in a greener future
 

VT: Strong Stuff Geoffrey!
 

GL: I do not make these remarks just for the sake of sounding off opportunistically, 15 years ago when leading WTTC in its formative decade, we set up a Tax Policy Centre, asked a young economist from LSE to take a look at the growing appetite of governments to over tax the tourism industry and actually produced a comic book from the findings – Taxing the Force: yes a comic book because we knew no one would read another boring white paper. Our young economist’s report laid out some very sound principles for “Intelligent Taxation” to help optimize the sector’s strategic contribution to general economic well being.

And Yes Prime Minister it might not be a bad idea if you were to ask that now older and greener economist, Lord Stern to get together with your Tourism Minister, Transport Minister, Environment Minister and Chancellor to take another look at applying those principles. Throw in a multistakeholder industry and ngo support group, some good economic research and media  sunlight on the process and you might just find a way to turn an anti tourism tax white elephant into a green jobs machine.

Lipman is currently director of greenearth.travel and Advisor to Schuman Associates Brussels as well as UNWTO, the World Economic Forum and Dragon Trail China.  He is former President of WTTC
 

See: www.greenearth.travel

Edited by Valere Tjolle
Get free sustainable tourism reports from Vision on Sustainable Tourism HERE

Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suitewww.travelmole.com/stories/1143624.php