A major British travel executive has criticised several tourism-related decisions recently made by the Government.

The Association of British Travel Agents’ chairman John McEwan said that it was ‘unacceptable’ for ministers to block plans to expand south-east English airports, adding that it would lead to decreased competitiveness for Britain in the worldwide travel market.

During the ABTA-sponsored travel event this week in London he also said that the Government’s new travel-protection plan wasn’t extensive enough and that there was still much work to be done on the air passenger duty (APD) policy. The APD rate was set to be increased this year, however in the Budget the plan was deferred, which Mr McEwan welcomed but said it still was not ‘fair’.

He also said that the latest travel protection plan would only beef-up protection for about 50% of travellers and added that it was up to the Government to ensure that consumers could travel with ‘confidence’.

Later on, British Airways’ chief executive Keith Williams said that air carriers in Britain were already paying the highest APD rates worldwide. However, he said that airlines should be doing their part to benefit the environment and added that BA was stepping up its green efforts more than ever.