CONTINUED FROM BACK COVER
“But from the government point of view, there is no coordination across ministries to deal with travel and tourism. “Compare that with other governments, which convene a cabinet meeting to look at travel and tourism every few months. “It’s not just the UK – you could say the same about France. Governments tend to take travel and tourism for granted until something like the ash crisis happens. We would have said the same of the US until the current administration.” Scowsill said “things only began to happen” in the US when travel and tourism attracted the attention of Barack Obama. “The US government has moved a long way in three to four years. It’s extraordinary. “A lot comes down to infrastructure decisions. If you take Germany, France or Spain, long-term infrastructure decisions are taken by civil servants. But politicians take the decisions in the UK. “What a government needs is one point of discussion, one representative of the industry. Not many countries have that sort of organisation. There are a few – Australia, Germany, India – that provide a single point of contact with government. “The UK has an enormous number of industry associations. Abta is one and it is very good, but it can’t speak for the whole industry.” Addressing the WTTC Summit, Scowsill
cited the UK to illustrate the difficulties the industry faced in lobbying. “There are ministries responsible for
different things – the finance ministry looks after Air Passenger Duty, another department handles VAT, border control is another ministry, transport another. There is no coordination,” he said. “In most countries, power lies with the finance ministry and, ultimately, the head of state.” At the summit, GTAC members launched an ‘agenda for growth’, with a series of joint commitments and calls to action. UNWTO secretary-general Taleb Rifai
praised the work of the coalition, saying: “We agreed four or five indicators that need to be said consistently and now everyone knows them. We unified our messages.” ❯ Election Countdown, page 79
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WTTC SUMMIT 2015: Global tourism leaders stress the need to align Europe, issue a manifesto for growth and hear of a tipping point for
EUROPE: HOPES FOR GROWTH UNDERMINED BY STRIKES, TAXES AND ‘EC INCOMPETENCE’
Industry leaders questioned the confidence in European economic growth expressed by former European Commission president José Manuel Barroso at the WTTC Summit. Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “Any optimism should be tempered by the level of incompetence to be delivered on us by the European Commission.” Barroso told the summit that Europe
was set on sustainable growth. “We can be confident about Europe,” he said. “Europe is in post-traumatic recovery. The
eurozone economies are going to grow 2% this year. Before, we had growth that was unsustainable, driven by high levels of debt. Confidence is coming back.” But O’Leary said: “If this conference had been held last week, no one would have got here because French air traffic controllers were on strike.” He accused the EC of failing to act against the strike. “All Ryanair’s growth will take place in
Europe, but we must be aware how it will be affected by Europe’s politicians.” But O’Leary was confident about Ryanair’s growth prospects, saying: “We’re competing with a lot of incompetent providers.”
Darren Huston, president and chief
executive of Priceline, which owns accommodation giant
Booking.com, said: “Europe does not really operate as a single market. Data roaming is terrible. Our customers hate to data-roam because they don’t know what they are paying. Tax is another issue. It is constantly changing.” He added: “I wonder why hotel groups
are not investing more in Europe.” Turkish Airlines president and chief
executive Temil Kotil said: “European airports are declining. The only airports that are growing are in Asia.”
INFRASTRUCTURE: UK ‘NEEDS TOWAKE UP’
The UK must “wake up” to the need to expand Heathrow or “continue to recede as a world force”, the head of Dubai airport warned. Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports
Paul Griffiths
Corporation, told the summit: “People don’t see the benefits of encouraging tourists by having the infrastructure in place.” He pointed out that Dubai had
overtaken Heathrow as the world’s largest international airport, and said: “In Dubai, it is clearly understood there is a link. “Aircraft have been a fact of life for
decades. You could argue people in west London have never had it so good. “People have to make a choice. Do they
want the benefits [of a major airport]? “Does the UK want to continue to
recede as a world force or be part of a connected world? “People move to cities because they are
connected – they have the ability to fly. In Dubai, we have 38 times our population going through the airport every year. Is it any wonder we are taking centre stage? “People have to wake up. There is a cost to not having infrastructure in place.” ❯ Letters, page 38
Michael O’Leary
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