The World Travel and Tourism Council has repeated its call for the UK government to scrap Air Passenger Duty (APD).
WTTC president and chief executive David Scowsill told a State of the Industry conference in St Martin: “APD has always been a blunt instrument and a bad tax.”
Scowsill told the conference, hosted by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO): “The distance-based system is discriminatory to the Caribbean and the Caribbean people living in the UK.”
He said the inclusion of airlines in the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme next year meant it was time for the UK government to recognise APD was a tax “whose time has come and gone”. “It must be phased out now or at least redesigned,” he said.
“The tax costs the industry £2.5 billion each year and threatens the UK’s international competitiveness as a tourism destination. The UK should learn from neighbouring countries such as the Netherlands which repealed a $412 million departure tax because it cost the economy $1.6 billion. The Irish also plan to cancel their $165 million travel tax because it costs them $594 million,” Scowsill said.
The WTTC argues the government tax is choking the growth of travel. “APD is cited numerously as the reason for the withdrawal of marginal air routes, and the losses or failure of travel companies,” said Scowsill.