UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai tore into the the UK Government's decision to increase the Air Passenger Duty (APD) for departures from the UK.
UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai tore into the the UK Government's decision to increase the Air Passenger Duty (APD) for departures from UK airports from November.
Despite being branded an environmental tax, Rifai claimed it was “not going to any particular fund to tackle environmental issues”, it was “going directly into the government budget”.
“It’s a horrible tax – it’s an example of how things like this are used sometimes to deal with other problems,” he told Hoteliermiddleeast.com.
“This must never be tolerated and we should be very vigilant.”
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Rifai said he understood he was “politically on the limp” by criticising the UK government, but added he was determined to make it clear UNWTO’s position was APD was “a wrong and unacceptable tax”.
“It’s going to be about £50 to £60 per person leaving the UK to any destination outside of Europe, which is another decscriminatory act,” he said.
“Imagine a family of three or four having to pay £150 to £200 just to leave the airport - how much will that deter the people of the UK? It is an important generating market and I think this is the wrong time and the wrong measure; it’s not the right thing to do.”
Although Rifai condemned the UK’s environmental tax, he added it was important for the travel industry to be at the heart of all climate change discussions and decisions, as it was both a “victim” and a “victor” when it came to the green issue.
“The very lifeline of our industry is based on certain climatic facts and consequences and some are very devastating to already established destinations,” he explained.
“We understand as an industry that climate change is our enemy and we are the most affected by it.”
UNWTO assistant secretary general Geoffrey Lipman will be in Dubai on November 5 for tourism marketing summit METMS, where he will deliver a keynote speech at the Shangri-La Hotel.
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Oct 12, 2009 , Germany
I totally agree with the author. This decrease traveller numbers to mainland Europe even more. After the devaluation of the GBP during the credit crunch, this is a step that will impact the outgoing tourism flow negatively. Companies linked to tourism will have to overthink their activities on th...