The chief executive of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has praised the Abbott Government’s pledge to freeze Australia's departure tax during its first term of office.
Martin Craigs, pictured, speaking to Travel Today at the World Travel and Tourism Summit in Seoul, said it demonstrated a “healthy and positive start” to the Coalition’s rule.
“We are encouraged that he [Tony Abbott] gets the link between travel, tourism and trade,” Craigs said. “They’ll be a few people in New Zealand in particular who will be pleased to know they’re not going to have a significant increase in the Passenger Movement Charge because the tax seems disproportionate across the Tasman.”
Others have questioned, however, whether a promise to freeze the tax, rather than decrease it, was enough to warrant such optimism.
The Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) has already heaped praise on the Coalition for its stance on the PMC.
Asked whether Abbott went far enough, Craigs, pictured, said: “It shows a positive mindset, the rest can be talked about.”
But he slated the UK Government for its PMC equivalent, the Air Passenger Duty (APD), accusing it of being “lazy and clueless” by taxing aviation so aggressively.
“It’s so easy to tax aviation. Airlines are very regulatory orientated, they behave well and it’s the cheapest tax in the world to collect,” Craigs said. “It’s A101 economics. When you increase costs you reduce demand and there is a tipping point which Britain has reached.”
Australia, Craigs said, has yet to reach that stage where tourists are deterred from travelling because of the tax.
He added that at least a portion of the PMC is returned to the industry in the form of the Asia Marketing Fund.
“That is smart thinking,” he said.
Craigs also praised the “visionary stance” of James Packer, saying Sydney needs another “prestigious landmark”.
“I am also very interested to see how the new Abbott administration tackles the age old problem of Sydney’s second airport,” he said.
