Travel tax brings tourism down to earth with a bang

IN his letter (April 5), Micheal Job claims scrapping the air travel tax is purely populist and “there is no evidence to support” the claim that it is costing Ireland jobs or tourists. Mr Job is wrong.

The air travel tax is responsible for the collapse in Irish tourism over the past 18 months. His claim that there is no evidence to support this is inaccurate — an independent report was commissioned by Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Cityjet. This found the travel tax would reduce government revenue overall, cost the tourism industry at least €186m, cause the loss of 2,000-3,000 jobs (keeping in mind the loss of each job will cost the Government a further estimated €20,000 in social welfare and lost income tax). The report also found this would all have knock-on effects on VAT and even corporate tax receipts.

The overall effect on Ireland, it says, is that it is “making it less attractive to visit and a less attractive place to do business, which may also serve as an impediment to economic recovery more generally”.

Mr Job seems also to believe this tax is so small it doesn’t effect the actions of holidaymakers and that it is a tiny cost. €10 is far from “minute” when your are holidaying with a family of six this summer. For the first time our family is bypassing Cork airport and departing from Kerry airport due to the savings we were able to make with Ryanair there. The travel tax of €60 makes no economic sense. Holidaymakers choose the cheapest locations

The travel tax has caused Irish airlines to reduce capacity at our airports and open new routes at other airports across Europe. Passenger numbers are down substantially at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, while they have increased at airports across Europe.

To say Enda Kenny is being populist is totally skewed. This country needs politicians who understand commonsense. Clearly, Mr Kenny has that, at the very least.

Tadhg O’Donovan

Boulteen

Bandon

Co Cork