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NEWS / AUGUST 2009 / FLIGHT TAX JUST NOT CRICKET FOR AUSSIES
The Sunday Express reported on a poll in Australia that highlighted how the rises in Air Passenger Duty would impact on travelling cricket fans. The poll found that one in two Australians say they would reconsider coming to the UK to watch events like The Ashes because of the rise in APD. 35,000 Australian fans are estimated to have come to the UK for the current series and England’s Barmy Army of travelling fans are expected to take larger numbers Down Under in the winter of 2010/11. By then, travellers will pay an extra £85 in tax to watch their team.
OUR REACTION
Rt Hon Brian Wilson
commenting on
Flight tax just not cricket for Aussies
These flight tax rises are just not cricket for Australians. They will have a direct impact on the number of visitors coming to the UK, just at a time when we are relying on the tourism sector to cushion the UK from the worst effects of the recession.
The Government is keen to ensure the UK hosts world class sporting events, attracting tens of thousands of international visitors. If they push ahead with these tax rises the evidence shows that visitors will think twice about coming here and the jobs which would have been created will shrink accordingly.
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FlyingMatters reaction to public attitudes to air travel and the environment survey
Reacting to statistics published by the Department for Transport on attitudes to air travel and the environment, showing that the proportion of people willing to pay extra fell from 69% in 2006 to 60% in 2010 among those who do believe that air travel harms the environment and from 50% to 40% among those who have flown in the last 12 months, Brian Wilson, Chairman of FlyingMatters said: "Just as the public's appetite for paying more for flying is waning, the Government plan to push ahead with eye-watering rises in the tax on flying so that from November a family of four will pay up to £340 in tax alone. This will push flying out of the reach of many ordinary families who only fly occasionally."
