The trade is being urged to help raise awareness of the amount of tax customers pay when booking holidays as Air Passenger Duty (APD) is set to rise in November.
Abta used last weekend’s Notting Hill Carnival to raise awareness of the damage it claims the tax increase will cause to travel between the UK and the Caribbean.
Luke Pollard, Abta’s head of public affairs, said the association now wanted the wider trade to recognise the impact the tax will have and communicate this to the holidaying public.
“The chances of stopping the November 1 rise is slim and we are not attempting to stop it but raise the overall level of taxation as an issue. We don’t want people to be taxed out of flying.”
Pollard said the issue had been embraced by the Caribbean community because the region will be particularly badly hit due to what opponents say is an unfair banding system.
He said raising the issue at Carnival will change perceptions of tourism to the Caribbean from wealthy people in private yachts to the large market of visiting friends and family. In the past the trade has been criticised for not doing enough to publicise the issue.
“Raising taxes on flying harms tourism and damages the economies of Caribbean islands.
“The government proposes doubling taxes on flying over the next five years. It is time the government thought again about hiking aviation taxes.”
However, a response to a Downing Street petition against November’s APD rise backed by Abta saw just 14,000 people sign and prompted the following response from the government last week: “Deficit reduction and ensuring the economic recovery are the most urgent issues facing the UK.
“Flying is relatively under-taxed; there is no duty on tickets.
“Aviation tax ensures that it contributes its fair share towards the public finances and plays a part in deficit reduction.”