Lobbying needs to change, claims UNWTO
Wednesday, 15 Jul, 2009
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The tourism industry needs a new approach to lobbying the government as it is unrealistic to hope that it will scrap current taxes, according to tourism veteran Geoffrey Lipman.
Lipman, assistant secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, said he did not expect air passenger duty to be reduced by a government heavily in debt.
“This poll tax is a cynical way of raising money and claiming it is helping the environment,” he said, speaking at a Tourism Society Debate with the UNWTO entitled ‘Travel and Tourism: Stimulus for G20 economies’.
Instead, he called on developing countries to put pressure on the UK and US governments to reduce barriers to travel.
“Gordon Brown has taken as one of his issues the need to help developing countries. Our game is to get developing countries to say to developed countries: Do something to help us during this time.”
But Lipman admitted that achieving change at government level was a slow process.
“This is part of a strategy. It may take five years, but we’ve got to keep pushing the green issue and the impact on jobs and the infrastructure.
“We should marshall our key messages to show the G20 nations how tourism is one sector that can help countries, especially poor countries, achieve their goals.”
Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the UNWTO, agreed with his colleague but also criticised the UK government’s tax policy.
“I can’t understand why the government adds taxes for people who are travelling and has complicated visa procedures for visitors,” he said.
“How can a government like the UK deprive the poorest countries by deterring people from visiting them?”
Marthinus Van Schalkwyk, tourism minister for South Africa, also criticised the UK’s visa procedures for visitors. He told the story of one family who were forced to fill in extensive forms and join several queues on different days to pay their visa fees.
Chris Rodrigues, the chairman of VisitBritain, said lobbying was a huge challenge because of the constant turnover in the government.
“So far I’m on my 4th secretary of state and 3rd minister in two years as chairman,” he said.
“In developing nations the minister of tourism becomes part of the cabinet but in developing countries it is highly unlikely that a minister will be at cabinet level.”
Rodrigues said the tourism industry had to prove that tourism and sustainability were compatible.
“We have to impress that it is about jobs, regeneration and skills,” he said.
“Sustainability is the Achilles heel at ministerial level. You get people saying it would be better if there were no tourism, but you wouldn’t say that to a developing country.”
by Jeremy Skidmore (www.jeremyskidmore.com)
Jeremy Skidmore
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