Travel buyers around the world urge UK to reduce Air Passenger Duty

RADNOR, Pennsylvania – Some 70 corporate travel departments, travel management companies, and tour operators from around the world today transmitted a letter to Rt. Hon.

RADNOR, Pennsylvania – Some 70 corporate travel departments, travel management companies, and tour operators from around the world today transmitted a letter to Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Rt. Hon Michael Moore MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, urging a reduction in the Air Passenger Duty (APD). The duty has become a burden on the competitiveness of the UK for meetings, incentive trips, conventions, and tourism. Signatories to this letter included Makino, Inc., from Japan; Dnata Travel Services from Dubai; Argo Travel from Greece; Qiagen Group from the Netherlands; Alfa Laval from Sweden; travel leaders from the US; Li & Fung Group from Hong Kong; and UNIGLOBE Normark Travel Inc. from Canada.

The signatories wrote to the government officials: โ€œWhether a convention in London, or an incentive trip to the famed golf venues of Scotland, our companies and clients are choosing France, Ireland, and other destinations to avoid the highest aviation taxes that can be found in all of Europe. To be clear, the UK is a coveted destination; however, budgets are tight around the world and just a few hundred pounds difference in cost can cause the UK to lose significant business that sustains jobs and powers the UK economy.โ€

Comments from specific signatories are illustrative of the problem that the UK faces:

โ€œWe have eliminated the UK from any consideration for incentive groups and meetings due to the high taxes.โ€ – Gary Silverstein, Mann Travels

โ€œIt is so expensive to fly to the UK now with all the taxes that our clients are seeking other destinations.โ€ – Steve Crandall, Discount Travel

โ€œWhen flying to/from the USA to the Middle East over Europe, I try to avoid London specifically because of these taxes. That means as a matter of tax-costs only I typically avoid flying BA or Virgin even though they are both great airlines.โ€ – Chris Tomseth, Global Travel Strategies

โ€œIf additional taxes were to be added to the already high taxes, we would not promote and publish any more tours to Great Britain.โ€ – Othmar G. Grueninger, Grueninger Tours/Ambassadair Travel

โ€œIn addition to traffic from regular business activities, meetings and conventions, the impact on leisure travel is significant.โ€ – Virginia Peterson, Travel Leaders

โ€œThis letter and the declarations of the signatories powerfully demonstrate that the UK is on the decidedly wrong track in pricing itself out of many segments of the travel market,โ€ said Brian Potter, President, Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association. “Not only are we losing foreign exchange revenues and associated jobs, but the viability of our national air transportation system is quickly eroding with profound implications for regional airports and the economies they support. This deterioration of inbound demand, caused by a counterproductive tax policy will cause airlines to use smaller aircraft, reduce frequencies, and in some cases withdraw service altogether from regional UK airports. For Scotland, the APD tax together with under capacity at Heathrow really does threaten the viability of connections from London on to the UK domestic air network.”

US-based Business Travel Coalition chairman Kevin Mitchell, who helped organize the signatory letter, added, โ€œThe worldโ€™s travel community is indeed paying keen attention to and advising clients based upon aviation taxation developments in the UK. Demand is clearly being impacted by this growing tax burden. If not reversed soon, the UK will acquire a long-term and hard-to-shake image of being too expensive a destination for many business-travel related activities.โ€

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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