p10 News TGB Feb 13 11/2/09 21:11 Page 10
news travel gives back
ttglive.com
Caribbean PMs crank
FHA to auction
holidays online
up pressure over APD
THE FAMILY Holiday Association is running its
first online auction next month to sell holidays
Chris Gray.
warning that the tax will unfairly hit donated by a range of companies.
GOVERNMENTS in the Caribbean the “world’s most tourism-depend- Haven Holidays was the first operator to
and Egypt are increasing ent region”. donate products to the FHA for the Holiday2Help
pressure on the Treasury to Lovell said: “To suggest this auction, which is the first of its kind.
reform Air Passenger Duty is a green tax and that the en- The holidays will go to the highest bidder and
as TTG’s Fair Fares petition vironmental impact of flying to all the money
smashes the 1,000 mark. California or Hawaii is less raised will be
Prime ministers from Carib- then flying to the Caribbean is used by the
bean islands have written to patently untrue. Our countries FHA to give a
prime minister Gordon Brown and call on Britain to do the right thing holiday to under-privileged families who other-
chancellor Alistair Darling calling for and change this injustice.” wise could not afford a break.
them to drop the “discriminatory” plans. Andy Cooper, Abta’s development director, FHA director John McDonald said the auction
Egypt’s ambassador to the UK is aiming said the extent of support for the petition would help market the companies that donated.
to take up the issue with Darling before the tax is could combine with pressure from overseas gov- “Holiday2Help is a chance for travel compa-
put in the finance bill presented to parliament in ernments to force a Treasury rethink. nies to get creative with their marketing budget,
next month’s budget. Lobbying would continue even if the tax went while highlighting their values as a responsible
Their moves came as the number of people into the budget’s finance bill unchanged because and caring business,” he said.
signing our Downing Street petition doubled in a MPs could make changes in the Commons, he said. “For consumers, it’s a chance to get some in-
week to nearly 1,200. They join the 140 who The APD plans have been condemned for spiration for their summer holiday and possibly
signed a paper petition at last month’s Caribbean taxing flights to the Caribbean at a higher rate nab a bargain, while helping children living in
Marketplace in St Lucia. than the whole of the US, most of which is poverty have a break away with their family.”
Prime ministers from several islands have further from the UK. Egypt is taxed the same as
now signed a letter from Caribbean Tourism the US, even though Los Angeles is more than ■ To contribute to the auction, call 020 7323
Organisation chairman Howard Lovell to Brown, twice as far from London as Cairo. 7292 or email jacqulyn@fhaonline.org.uk
How you can help: Sign our petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/APDtax
Ritz-Carlton adds
‘Give Back’ hotels
RITZ-CARLTON Hotels has launched the latest
additions to its Give Back Getaways programme,
giving guests the chance to join staff in working
on local social and environmental projects.
The projects, at St Thomas in the US Virgin
Islands and San Juan in Puerto Rico, join
programmes on offer at Ritz-Carlton hotels all
over the world, including Orlando, Marbella,
Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, and China.
The St Thomas programme lets guests help
restore mangroves, protect reefs and clean
beaches and shoreline.
The San Juan Hotel project gives guests the
chance to help preserve the El Yunque tropical
rainforest by maintaining hiking paths, painting
bridges and helping forest and land surveys.
They follow the launch in December of a scheme
HEART AND SOUL: Midlands Co-op Travel raised a record-breaking £260,000 in 2008 at the Hotel Villa Padierna in Marbella, which lets
for its corporate charity partner, the British Heart Foundation. Pictured are Helen guests help reforest areas of the mountain range.
Jackson (right), manager of Ilkeston Co-op Travel (part of Midlands Co-op) in Beeston, Guests pay to join the work and all profits go to
Nottingham, with Melanie Doyle, a British Heart Foundation-funded genetic heart nurse. the community organisations running the projects.
10 13.02.2009
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