Britain's decision to raise Airport Passenger Duty (APD) has been heavily criticised at a summit meeting of more than 100 tourism ministers from around the world at London's World Travel Market, the premier global event for the travel industry. The meeting, which was also attended by representatives of all sectors of the travel industry, was organized by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and World Travel Market. Taleb Rifai, secretary general of UNWTO, called on the British government to reconsider the tax. "APD is not an environmental measure, it is an anti-development measure," he said. "The British government is schizophrenic. It says it is committed to promoting development in poorer countries yet at the same time it has introduced a tax that is a terrible blow to their development. "Tourism is the biggest conduit for the transfer of funds from rich countries to poor ones," said Rifai. "The industry acts as a catalyst in many countries; its benefits trickle down to other sectors of the economy yet its impact is not widely acknowledged. "APD will not only hurt poorer countries but also hurt the UK's own tour operators," he said. "The Dutch tried a similar tax but quickly retracted it. Thailand has dropped 50% of its airport fees and Egypt is considering similar measures." Rifai warned that measures such as APD will damage the economies of developing countries and lead to unemployment and social unrest. Geoffrey Lipman, assistant secretary general of UNWTO, said, "With so much uncertainty underlying the global economy, this is not the time to do anything to upset the delicate economic balance." He cited the example of the Maldives, where tourism accounts for 70% of the economy, as a country vulnerable to any fall in tourist numbers. No representative of the British government was on hand at the summit meeting to defend the decision to recalculate and raise APD, because Britain has withdrawn its membership of UNWTO. The government of Barbados is sufficiently concerned about the impact of APD on its economy that Prime Minister David Thompson visited London late last month to meet with travel industry leaders and encourage them to lobby against the tax. "APD unfairly penalises visitors to Barbados, and the Caribbean region, because it is based on the distance from London to the capital city of the destination, rather than the actual miles flown," said Thompson. "This means that a person flying to Bridgetown from London would pay 25% more under the APD proposals than someone flying to Honolulu in Hawaii, which is 3,000 miles further. "It is unfair to discriminate against visitors to our region. It is also unfair for our diaspora, who will have a disproportionately high tax forced upon them when they wish to return to Barbados to visit their family and friends. I am confident our activities will encourage the British government to review their APD proposals." Britain's new APD tax rates come at a time when UNWTO is cautiously optimistic that the decline in the world tourism industry is slowing after the most turbulent 18 months the travel industry has endured in recent years. International tourist arrivals worldwide are estimated to have declined by 7% between January and August 2009, according to the latest figures from UNWTO. Destinations worldwide recorded a total of 600m arrivals, down from 643m in the same period in 2008. Arrivals in the two high-season months of July and August declined by 3% compared with a decrease of 8% in the first half of the year and says figures for September also show a slowing in the rate of decline. Travellers are, however, taking shorter flights, spending less time on holiday and spending less. Receipts from international tourism are estimated to have contracted in real terms by 9% to 10% in the first six months of 2009. UNWTO forecasts modest growth in the number of tourist arrivals in 2010 with growth at between 1% and 3%. It warns, though, that recovery will be strongest in Asia and Africa, while Europe and the Americas will take longer to regain momentum. Almost 50,000 senior travel industry delegates will attend World Travel Market this week (Monday 9 November - Thursday 12 November). More than half of UK holidaymakers will slash their number of overseas holidays due to the introduction of APD, according to a separate survey by World Travel Market. It found that 52% of the 1,030 people polled, all of whom holidayed this summer, said they would reduce their overseas holidays because of APD and 13% said they would stop overseas holidaying all together because of the tax. APD has been recalculated with the introduction of four bands, with passengers being charged according to how far they fly. For example, a family of four flying economy class to Egypt - a popular year round destination for UK travellers - will see their APD increase by �20 to �100, rising to �120 in November 2010.

Premium economy, business and first class holidaymakers to Australia will see their APD increase by a massive �30 to �110, rising to �170 in November 2010 - which will be more than double the current �80 tax. - End - About World Travel Market World Travel Market, the premier global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend four-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. Almost 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international press, embark on ExCeL - London every November to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at WTM. WTM, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2009, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals. WTM is owned by the world's leading events organiser Reed Exhibitions (RE), which organises a portfolio of other travel industry events including Arabian Travel Market and International Luxury Travel Market. RE holds more than 500 events in 38 countries throughout Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific covering 47 industry sectors including aerospace & aviation, healthcare, manufacturing and sport & recreation. In 2008 RE, part of the Reed Elsevier group, brought together more than six million industry professionals from around the world generating billions of dollars in business.

For more information on the above press release please contact Paul Nelson, Press and PR Manager, World Travel Market - Email: Paul.Nelson@reedexpo.co.uk, Tel: 020 8910 7032