BA boss warns costly aviation taxes and rail tickets are stunting UK growth

UK lagging behind rivals on tourism growth because of travel costs and lack of joined-up planning, says CEO Sean Doyle

The cost of travel to and around the UK is keeping millions of tourists away and slowing economic growth, the boss of British Airways said, as he urged a rethink of aviation taxes.

The airline’s chief executive, Sean Doyle, said the UK had some of the highest aviation taxes in the world and was falling behind countries such as Japan, France and Germany in boosting its inbound tourism.

The UK would not hit ambitious targets for domestic tourism without making travel easier and more affordable, Doyle added.

Air passenger duty across most flights was raised by 15% in April, up to £8 a passenger on domestic flights, £15 for European departures, and up to £253 in premium economy seats on long-haul flights.

“What’s the biggest challenge in the country at the minute? It’s growth. And what should policy be doing? It should be unblocking growth. If you want to promote tourism and aviation … the last thing you do to encourage that expansion is put the cost of it up,” Doyle said.

The government has set a target of welcoming 50 million international visitors to the UK by 2030, up from about 40 million tourists at present.

However, Doyle warned: “Unless we address the affordability issue we’re not going to get there. If you look at France and Spain, they’ve absolutely shot past us. A big part of it is cost, if you look at the surveys. If we want to hit 50 million and want the economic benefit of that, we’re going to have to change the affordability proposition to tourists.”