The Global Sales Director of Cheapflights, which is one of the UK’s leading flight comparison websites, said that the Air Passenger Duty will do nothing but harm the tourism industry for cities all over the UK. The rise in Air Passenger Duty is something that many airlines and businesses in the tourism industry have been fighting for a long time.

He went on to point out that all kinds of associations are challenging this new tax, and with very good reasons. For many developing countries, tourism is a leading employer, and a majority of these will be hit by the increase in the Air Passenger Duty tax, as it affects long haul destinations the most.

By placing these taxes on passengers, it will become increasingly difficult for passengers to take trips this holiday season. Many passengers have already chosen to just stay at home due to the recession. This new tax will do nothing to aid the travel industry at winning this fight. To top it off, the Air Passenger Duty, which has just recently gone up, is set to go up again next year.

The Cheapflights global sales director went on to say that the Dutch government tried to implement a very similar tax, but it failed. Thus, the UK will be the only country in the whole world that will have this tax. Now with a federal election coming up fast, this new tax could just turn into a political hot potato for the government that it tries to pass off on new people coming into the office, which is not unheard of in the political world.