Bosses at the major package holiday companies have called on colleagues in travel and aviation to lobby politicians on issues affecting the trade, such as green taxes and sector support.
Speaking on a panel at Travel Weekly’s recent Future of Travel conference, the chiefs of Jet2holidays, Tui and easyJet holidays said the lobbying must continue as the sector rebuilds from the pandemic.
Steve Heapy, chief executive of Jet2holidays, warned that environmental issues will hit the industry over the next few years “like a freight train” and urged travel professionals to write to their MPs about green taxes.
He also said lobbying MPs about sector-specific support was vital, especially as many town centres are struggling with shop closures and restrictive planning laws – and the furlough scheme ends on September 30.
“There will be tax upon tax upon tax on green. Why? Because governments feel it is an acceptable tax,” he said, warning that jobs will be lost as costs rise.
He also wanted money from environmental taxes to be ring-fenced for green projects such as wind and solar farms.
“The travel and airline industry is an easy target – lots of people see all the [aircraft] contrails, ‘they’re polluting, let’s put another tax on them’,” he commented.
“The EU is talking about a 46 cent tax per litre on aviation fuel. That will increase cost of aviation fuel by 60%.”
On the need for sector-specific support, he commented: “Everyone of you has an MP, everyone has the democratic right to contact their MP.”
He recalled the Shawshank Redemption film in which a character writes letters each week requesting a library book and finally succeeds years later.
The trade has “strength in numbers” so MPs should be lobbied with hundreds of thousands of letters, he told delegates.
“We have got to be persistent; they are public servants – lobbying is a very powerful thing,” he said.
EasyJet holidays recently became the first major UK operator to sign up to The Future of Tourism Coalition which has a global mission to place destinations at the centre of recovery strategies.
Chief executive Garry Wilson agreed that lobbying is vital, describing aviation fuel taxes as “ridiculous”.
He highlighted how operators also have the power to help destinations with issues such as employment, waste-water management and the fair distribution of wealth.
Wilson said the recovery of the UK travel trade is dependent on government policy, adding: “Look at Europe: it is open and nigh on back to normal.
“Demand is there when those restrictions are removed and confidence returns.
“We have to use the next few months to put as much as we can into lobbying so we go into the turn of year and Q1 as strongly as we can.
“There is lots more that the government needs to do.”
Andrew Flintham, managing director for the UK and northern Europe at Tui, agreed there will be increased environmental legislation and taxation as the world deals with the climate crisis.
“We have been focused on a global pandemic but there is a greater long-term risk to the world and environment as we come out of this that we need to address,” he said.
Picture of the Houses of Parliament by CristianGusa/Shutterstock.com
More: ‘Government must lead green aviation strategy’, says Jet2 boss