As this concerns aviation policy, I hope it is best here rather than JB:
I'm sure we're all familiar with the arguments about the tourism deficit caused by Brits spending more abroad each year than Johnny Foreigner spends on visits to the UK.
I have always countered this argument by saying that such a deficit is natural, given that the climate elsewhere is nearly always more favourable than it is here, so an imbalance is inevitable, just as it is in Germany and the Nordic countries. If we didn't have aircraft, ferries would do the same job.
The other counter argument is that even if the imbalance is true, any attempt to correct it through higher APD will backfire, as this will put far more foreign tourists off from visiting the UK, as they will be comparing ever increasing fares on flights to Blighty against much cheaper European counterparts.
According to the just-release DfT consultation, there is another reason why the deficit is not as great as claimed - people spend almost as much on the high street before departure as they do on the trip itself. That doesn't add up to me - surely people would stock up on 100ml essentials before travelling, and they'd buy more expensive items like clothes when they got there.
UK residents made 56 million visits abroad in 2010 and spent £32 billion, 83 per cent of which was spent by residents who travelled abroad by air....
Other respondents highlighted that outbound tourism supports UK-based jobs in the travel and airline industry and boosts high street consumer demand before trips are made.
...The latter has been valued at around £27 billion per year.
Any comments?