The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced it is against the UK Home Office proposal to increase the costs of the newly instated UK Electronic Travel Authorizations (ETAs) by 60%, from the current £10 to £16.
The price increase was presented to the UK Parliament on 16 January and is part of a wider set of changes that aim to provide the flexibility to increase the maximum fee that can be charged on a range of immigration and nationality products and services, including the ETA rising to£16, the certificate of sponsorship fee rising to £525, the fee for naturalisation as a British citizen rising to £1,605 and the fee naturalisation as a British overseas territories citizen rising to £1,070.
Among the four, the ETA has got the most attention as travel professionals believe it will hamper the country’s tourism industry. “Proposing to increase ETA costs just a week after the system was introduced is bewildering,” says IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh. “If implemented it would be a self-inflicted blow to the UK’s tourism competitiveness.”
In November, the UK government unveiled an ambitious plan to boost tourist arrivals by 30%, aiming to attract 50 million visitors annually by 2030 to harness tourism’s economic benefits. However, Walsh argues that, “Gouging these travellers with a 60% increase in the ETA is a very bad start.”
Moreover, he points out that, compiled with “the Air Passenger Duty (APD)—the biggest travel tax in the world—which itself will increase again in April”, travellers will be more inclined to choose other destinations like the EU, with the ETIAS system offering “far better value—costing about a third as much as this proposed pricing and lasting a year longer.”
“It’s time for the UK government to see the big picture,” Walsh concludes his argument. “It has everything to gain by making the UK a more cost-competitive travel destination—including the substantial tax revenues that travellers generate. It makes no sense to discourage visitors with high costs even before they set foot in the country.”
Airlines are not the only ones concerned about the impact the increase will have on the tourism industry. Calling the proposal “disappointing”, Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of agency consortium the Advantage Travel Partnership, says the move will not only affect inbound tourism, but also outbound tourism, impeding the overall growth of the tourism industry.
Beyond tourism for leisure, Clive Wratten, Business Travel Association CEO, argues the price spike will also deter those travelling for business, leaving the UK behind on “meaningful collaboration”, especially considering the only €7 ETIAS.
