The Chancellor George Osborne is set to announce his budget on 21 March and ABTA has written to the Chancellor outlining areas where improvements and incentives could be made to boost the travel and tourism sector, and making the entire travel experience cheaper and more enjoyable for Brits.
For many travellers a common gripe when planning on jetting off abroad is Air Passenger Duty (APD). The government has currently got in place plans to increase APD in April 2012. ABTA is calling on the government to instead accept industry recommendations to offset EU Emission Trading Scheme revenues against APD.
ABTA also claim that the government’s emphasis on UK domestic tourism, illustrated by the latest £4million ‘staycation’ campaign featuring the likes of Stephen Fry, is ‘lop-sided’ and does nothing to assist the multi-million revenues that inbound and outbound tourism create for Britain. “The Chancellor has it within his power in the Budget to create the economic conditions necessary for the travel and tourism industry to thrive,” said Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive, ABTA.”
Additional research undertaken by YouGov for ABTA suggests that the UK focused travel campaign, designed to encourage domestic tourism during this Jubilee and Olympic year, may fail at changing our minds about where we holiday. .
The research found that only 4% of people said that they would be inspired by government advertising when thinking about where to go on holiday. When it comes to choosing where to go, travellers are more often influenced by recommendations by family and friends, as well as travel websites.
ABTA's five questions at a glance
Date Created: 27/03/2012
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