The Government raised the already sky high Air Passenger Duty last April by another 8%. This tax on flying is not just paid by Brits but also by returning overseas tourists and business people as they depart from a UK airport. Then when they stay here they face 20% VAT on their Hotel or accommodation bills! So much for the Government encouraging inbound tourism and business to come to the UK! An alliance of Travel business and airlines "A Fair Tax on Flying" has called for the public to email their MP's to reduce the taxIt is very simple to do taking only a couple of minutes to send a pre-written letter to your local MP. By entering your household Post Code the letter pops up addressed to your local MP. Enter yr home address and email details - submit and its done !
Seemples!
I do not have specific research to hand to prove this but I believe it is a well accepted principle of successful marketing that your brand should attract a loyal and saitisfied customer base. They will then return regularly for your product. The UK's short term strategy of extracting every penny possible from overseas visitors through APD and VAT looks to me like an excellent one for discouraging the return of tourists and other visitors - everyone likes value for money after all.
It is not just the UK that suffers from APD... It has already seriously affected Caribbean resorts who fall into the third (out of four) most expensive APD mileage Bands (Barbados by a mere 250 miles).
The CTO has just (21 June) repeated its calls to change or dismantle the tax.. http://news.cheapflights.co.uk/caribbean-joins-calls-for-axing-of-air-passenger-duty/ .
Clearly the world economic downturn has an affect, but as an example my Favourite B&B in Barbados told me that this year they are 60% down on Bookings compared to last year! (http://www.bayfieldbarbados.com/) - Jet Fuel prices have not helped either as trans Atlantic and long distance flights carry significant fuel fuel surcharges. For example my wife and I were given airmiles by our son-in-law who flies regularly - we paid APD and other fees including the fuel surcharge on two premium economy seats to Barbados. These came to over £800. By the time we had paid BA £120 to reserve outbound and return seat numbers it was close to £1000 for the flights despite them being "free".
There is a point where if you raise taxes to an unsustainable level your revenue will actually fall rather than increase. This has happened in the UK when years ago the Government at the time put huge tax increases on alcohol and tobacco. It will be interesting to see the revenue generated by APD when the stats for last year are released eventually. (Always assuming that these are not doctored in any way! Perish the thought of course!)
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