Press Release
Rise in Air Passenger Duty Condemned
The Tourism Alliance is very disappointed with today’s announcement of an increase in Air Passenger Duty.
The justification of the increase on the basis of preventing climate change is the worse type of political opportunism and will nothing to resolve the important issue of reducing CO2 emissions. Rather, it is simply another tax on the consumers as none of the additional funds are being hypothecated to projects that address climate change.
Tourism Alliance spokesman, Stephen Dowd, stated that, “increased taxation is a very crude and blunt approach that fails to understand the issue of climate change, or the importance of the tourism industry to the UK economy. Rather than the environment benefiting from the increase in APD, the main beneficiary will be the overseas destinations that visitors will go to instead of coming to Britain.
It should be noted that the Stern Report on Climate Change and the Eddington Report on Transport both state that the proper way to mitigate the impact of travel on the environment is by including aviation in the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme. This is the approach that the Tourism Alliance supports and will pursue.
Stephen Dowd added, “the increase in APD shows a real lack of understanding of the tourism industry within Government. Econometric modelling has consistently shown that an increase in the cost of aviation will disproportionately impact upon overseas visitors to the UK who generate £13bn in foreign exchange for the UK economy and support over 300,000 jobs. The announcement of a doubling of this tax is completely inconsistent for a Chancellor who claims to support the growth and development of UK businesses.
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For further information, please contact:
Kurt Janson, Policy Director, Tourism Alliance; tel: 020 7395 8246 – mob: 07946428123
Notes to Editors
- The Tourism Alliance is the Voice of the UK Tourism Industry. It was established in 2001 with the support of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and comprises almost 50 Tourism Industry Associations that together represent 200,000 businesses of all sizes throughout the UK.
- A copy of the Tourism Alliance Annual Report is available at
- The purpose of the Tourism Alliance is to identify and develop policies and strategies to raise standards and promote quality within the industry and work with and lobby government on key issues relevant to the growth and development of tourism.
- Tourism is the sixth largest industry in Britain. It generates £75bn p.a. for the UK economy (6.4% of GDP) and directly supports 2.2 million jobs (7.7% of the total workforce).
- For further details on the Tourism Alliance and its policy objectives, visit the website,
Chairman: Tony Millns
Policy Director: Kurt Janson
Email:
Telephone: 020 7395 8246 Fax: 020 7395 8178 Mobile: 07964428123
Website: