15 June 2009

Ryanair calls for abolition of 'Ã&#pound;10 tourist tax'

Ryanair has joined calls for the government to scrap Air Passenger Duty.

The no-frills carrier described APD as a "£10 tourist tax" which is "nothing short of tourism suicide".

If the traffic collapse of the first five months continues for the full year, the UK economy will lose over 10 million passengers, over 10,000 airport jobs and over £2.5 billion in tourism spend in 2009 alone, with the government losing at least £350 million in VAT receipts, the Irish cheap fares airline claimed.

Ryanair calls on the UK to follow other European countries in scrapping similar taxes to prevent a further collapse in UK tourism and related jobs next winter.

A spokesman said: "This £10 tourist tax is nothing short of tourism suicide as the UK government will lose over 10,000 jobs and more than £2.5 billion in tourism spend this year alone.

"The government must follow the example of their Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish counterparts by immediately scrapping their stupid and regressive tourist tax in an effort to avoid any further devastation to tourism and jobs.

"Tourism is one of the UK’s most important industries and employers. It responds quickly to price increases.

"The government’s £10 tourist tax is making UK an uncompetitive destination and they must act now to save vital tourism".

by Phil Davies

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Your Comments (2)

Kettle & Pot??

I do agree with Ryanair re: this tax but compared to Ryanair's own added charges, the &#pound;10 tax is rather small fish. I checked Easyjet & Ryanair this week for 3 pax, Ryanair's base price was the cheapest BUT by the time I'd added the complusory charges, Easyjet were by far the best deal - you can guess who got the booking!

By Keith Standen, Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Forest and trees

Funny to read - Ryanair squeezes out any possible extra pound or Euro from its customers, but then is fighting against tourist taxes. Where this tax is committed to provide and maintain the public tourism services and infrastructure, they are critical to attract visitors (and therefore, makes them fly there with Ryanair). And I don't believe that 10 GBP will make a potential visitor desist from travelling to UK ... while 30 EUR for a manual check-in at Ryanair YES may have this effect.

By Klaus Ehrlich, Monday, June 15, 2009