The Business Visits and Events Partnership (BVEP) has backed a new campaign that aims to put pressure on the Government to introduce fairer levels of taxation on air passengers.
The campaign, which was launched last month by A Fair Tax on Flying, aims to encourage local businesses to sign a petition to be sent to the Treasury and highlights the damaging impact Air Passenger Duty (APD) is having on the UK’s economic growth.
BVEP says international business visits and spend are growing at a faster rate than other visitor segments with a two per cent growth in 2012 in volume (the best year since 2008), but APD continues to put UK business events at a competitive disadvantage.
“It’s crucial that policy makers look at and understand the detrimental impact of APD on the UK economy,” says Chairman of the BVEP, Michael Hirst. “APD makes the UK less competitive than our international neighbours and hurts our connectivity with developed and emerging markets.
“It is important we follow the work already being carried out by national tourist boards and government agencies like UKTI who support trade engagement and promotion of business extender travel overseas. Events boost Britain’s image overseas and business travellers spend on average 2.5 times more than leisure travellers, their impact on Britain’s economy is undoubted,” he adds.
The World Economic Forum’s recent tourism and competitiveness report ranked the UK 138th out of 139 for air ticket taxes and airport charges. It has been estimated by consultancy PwC that APD represents an additional £500m per year tax on UK businesses. A similar amount is also levied on corporate travellers visiting the UK, creating a barrier to trade and business. According to PwC, the GDP boost to the UK economy from cutting or abolishing the tax would amount to at least £16bn in the first three years and result in almost 60,000 extra jobs over the longer term.
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