100 countries join fight against British air tax

The World Tourism Organisation summit that was held in London last week and attended by the tourism ministers from around the world made headlines when more than 100 countries made vocal their feelings on the new Air Passenger Duty (APD) that was implemented this month. The APD was raised on the 1st November and it will be raised again in 2010 in some cases adding obscene amounts to the cost of travel. An average family of four heading to the Caribbean would have to fork out around £600 before they could even think about a seat on a plane. No government representative was at the summit to defend their new tax.

The UK Government have said the taxing system was introduced as an environment initiative, but the secretary general of the World Travel Organisation, Taleb Rifai, has said it is more like an anti-development tax as it does not help out tourism for developing countries who rely heavily on this trade for their economy. Mr Rifai went to use the Netherlands as an example of a country that introduced a similar tax but then withdrew it when it was discovered what impact it would have on other countries as well as their own tour operators.

The economic climate the world is currently in has led to many countries making concessions to increase tourism. Thailand has suspended all visa fees until March 2010 as well as discounting airport fees. Egypt is another country that is considering similar measures in an effort to build more tourism.