The trade association’s chief executive, Mary Rance, warned them in a letter: ‘The imminent rise in APD has united both the inbound and outbound tourism industries and the entire business community against the Government.’
Writing to Lord Adonis, Lord Mandelson and Barbara Follett, in their remits for transport, business and tourism, Rance said the decision to hike APD will damage the UK’s international competitiveness as a tourist destination and the potential of London to remain the leading place of business in Europe.
She added: ‘The tourism industry has the potential to help the UK emerge from recession more quickly, but during this extremely difficult economic time the Government seems resolute in sticking to its plans to raise APD, in a move that threatens the potential for economic recovery and job creation, which travel and tourism can generate.’
She feared APD could also scupper the work of tourist boards such as Visit London and VisitBritain to promote the UK overseas.
‘These marketing efforts, in some countries, generally see benefits around six months later – just at the time when the changes for Air Passenger Duty are proposed to begin,’ Rance wrote.
‘We see this timing as particularly damaging and could cancel out the fantastic work done by our tourism bodies to convince people to holiday in the UK.’
Rance urged the ministers to work together and as a matter of urgency stop or, at the very least, delay the impending changes to APD.
In 2008, inbound tourism generated £16.4bn in export earnings from 31.9m international visitors to the UK.
See also:
Ryanair freezes UK growth (23/06/2009)
European airports to benefit from UK tax hike (01/06/2009)
APD reform ‘will not happen’ (12/05/2009)
APD and visa costs deter inbound visitors (24/04/2009)
Operators warn APD will hurt Caribbean tourism (23/04/2009)