MPs are waking up to the fact that the increase in Air Passenger Duty is a re-election issue, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO).
The CTO has previously urged consumers and agents to write to their local MP to ask for an explanation for the hikes. Marketing director Carol Hay said an Early Day Motion – a formal motion submitted by MPs for debate in the House of Commons – tabled by Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather, shows MPs are now beginning to take the issue seriously.
The Early Day Motion calls for the government to base APD on the level of carbon emissions produced by flights rather than “arbitrary zones based on location of a country’s capital city”. So far it has attracted 13 signatures.
Hay said: “We have had great support from the travel industry and now MPs are realising that voters do care about this issue,” she said. “In an ideal world, we would like APD to be scrapped, but realistically we would like to see the Caribbean have parity with the US.”
Under the new system, flights to the Caribbean will be taxed in band C, which means passengers will pay £50 per return flight in economy. This is more than flights to the west coast of the US. The tax increase and new four-band system will come into force in November this year, and the tax is due to rise again to £75 in November 2010.
Meanwhile, an online petition on number10.gov.uk against the plans has now attracted 2,769 signatures.