Travel industry makes push in final APD review week
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The travel industry is bumping up its push for a fairer Air Passenger Duty (APD) in what is the last week of the Government’s review of the tax. The Fair Tax on Flying alliance, fronted by ABTA, has encouraged members to come forward by Friday with support for a different banding system and fewer taxation on the industry. “We already pay the highest levels of aviation tax in the world, and if the Government goes ahead with its double-inflationary increase and levies an ETS tax on top of this in 2012, we will see another eye-watering increase in the tax burden on the industry and on holidaymakers and business travellers flying in and out of the UK,” said Mark Tanzer, chief executive of ABTA. “The industry is willing to pay its way, but this clearly puts us at a competitive disadvantage when compared with our European neighbours and punishes the travelling public unfairly.” Mike Greenacre, managing director of The Co-operative Travel revealed the impact of APD had been shown in the company’s holiday sales in the last year. “A survey of over 30,000 holidays carried out earlier this year by The Co-operative Travel revealed a 17 per cent reduction year-on-year in holidays for destinations that are between 4,000 and 6,000 miles from London, with sales to the Caribbean (down 20%) and India (down 34%) hit particularly hard,” he explained. He said that consumers would also look to use alternative airports to avoid the tax, which has become a greater concern for Northern Ireland. There, travellers must pay up to
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