Flying on holiday could soon become as socially unacceptable as smoking unless the trade starts defending it.
Wish You Were Here? creator and freelance travel journalist Peter Hughes said: “Flying is on the threshold of being treated like smoking.
“If we allow it to be treated purely as a luxury then we are allowing ourselves to be treated as superfluous and we won’t be around for long if we are.”
Instead Hughes said the trade should do more to promote the benefits of overseas tourism – both to the consumer whose mind is broadened by the experience to the local population in the destination which benefits from the job and wealth creation.
He added that travel to repressed countries like Burma allows consumers to experience first hand the problems people suffer as well as giving them a greater understanding of foreign cultures.
In addition, he said it is not the responsibility of the UK’s traditionally liberal Parliament to ban overseas travel – a practice more normally associated with repressive communist countries.
However Hughes warned against companies preaching too much on the ethical nature of their holidays, adding: “I don’t want to feel that I’m being responsible when I go on holiday, I want to feel that I am having a good time.”
He added the British public will soon rebel against the Government’s efforts to tackle terrorism, including the proposed introduction of 53 security questions for air passengers and baggage checks at 250 key railway stations.
“Public opinion is beginning to turn people won’t accept their liberties being encroached upon by these measures,” Hughes said.