To advance the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s (PATA’s) advocacy platform on behalf of PATA members, PATA CEO Martin J Craigs met with Lord Stephen Green, UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London on July 9.

Lord Green invited Martin Craigs to the meeting. The PATA CEO said: “Lord Green’s invitation reflects the importance he attaches to PATA as a strategic organisation with global reach and influence.”

The previous week the Minister issued a statement expressing his support for PATA’s successful Hub City Forum held in London on 5th July 2012.

During the meeting on July 9 Craigs took the opportunity to underline PATA’s fundamental remit to support and foster travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region and to describe how PATA’s membership successfully straddled the public and private sectors from national tourist authorities to global multinationals, to multi various SME’s, creating synergy and unique opportunities for all.

Craigs explained how PATA’s advocacy role was increasing in importance, bringing strategic issues of concern to the travel and tourism industry to the attention of decision makers and encouraging a dialogue between governments and those in the industry.

The PATA CEO said that PATA was looking for opportunities to promote ‘aligned advocacy’ with other stakeholders such as IATA, UNWTO and WTTC. He told Lord Green that PATA recognised the vital importance of London as a regional and global hub, and as an international centre city of influence, reach and business opportunities.

Craigs, a UK national, described how the controversial UK Air Passenger Duty (APD) was having a detrimental impact on the travel and tourism industry, not least because of the rise in the tax by 8% as of April 1, 2012. The amount raised from this tax was more than the combined projected profits of all 233 IATA airlines in 2012.

Lord Green was surprised by this statistic. Both parties agreed that it reflected the fragility of the airline sector. The Minister was sympathetic to the issue and undertook to raise the matter with Treasury. However, he cautioned that in the present economic climate it would be unlikely that the policy would be reversed. In response, Mr Craigs asked for the APD to be capped or, as a minimum, not to be raised at a higher rate than UK inflation.

The PATA CEO pressed the point that the APD was damaging the UK's good reputation for fairness and free trade. He told Lord Green that the issue was consistently raised with him by Asian ministers and business leaders. Craigs pointed out that the Australian government, after a sustained advocacy campaign by business and other interests, had reversed its position on its equivalent of APD. In France and Germany equivalent taxes were considerably less than those of the UK, said Craigs.

The PATA CEO pledged to provide Lord Green with two authoritative reports by Oxford Economics commissioned by IATA/WTTC which contain substantive data on the damage caused by APD. Craigs advised that the issue was urgent and that the UK is at a tipping point for its reputation.

The EU Emissions Trading Scheme
Lord Green accepted that the inclusion of the aviation sector in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) since January 1, 2012 had elicited strong opposition from international aviation organisations and non EU countries including USA and China. The Minister said that the UK government was monitoring the situation closely but cautioned that there was strong support from the European Parliament for the inclusion of aviation. Mr Craigs noted that: “A Global solution via ICAO was the long term goal, which IATA is energetically working on.”

UK Aviation Strategy
During the July 9 meeting, the PATA CEO also expressed concern about the apparent lack of a coherent UK aviation strategy. Lord Green accepted that it was an understandable observation. The government had previously ruled out a third runway largely due to the environmental impact on south west London. The Minister said he also believed that with the introduction of more A380’s and new 787s, environmental noise issues would abate. With further technological improvements designed to reduce engine noise, the trend towards quieter aviation would continue. However, Lord Green accepted that Boris Johnson’s proposal for an airport in the Thames estuary had reenergised the debate.

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