BRITISH Airports Authority Heathrow (BAA) has lowered the proposed increase on the price of coach charter permits with immediate effect, resulting in any additional increases to be deferred until November.

The agreement was announced during a transport meeting, held in May, between BAA Heathrow, the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, and the London Tourist Coach Operators Association (LTCOA).

BAA had previously announced that the cost of coach charter permits would increase by over 60 per cent, however, following the meeting BAA agreed to an increase of just 5 per cent. Total price per permit until November is £8.40 plus VAT with additional increases expected towards the end of the year.

Stephen Telling, LTCOA chairman, says: "The announcement of significant increases to permit prices just weeks prior to the proposed implementation would have been a major problem for operators. This deferment gives the industry and BAA time to work towards ways of achieving mutual objectives."

The deferment also allows operators providing an airport service sufficient time to plan and include the charter permit pricing into their forthcoming itineraries. Heathrow airport operates strictly controlled procedures for coaches picking up from various terminals, and coach charter permits are only valid and issued per pick-up using designated parking bays at each terminal. Coach set-down only is free.

www.cpt-uk.org

TOTAL visitor numbers to this year’s Coach Tourism Show in May were so low that show organisers BAWTA opted not to release the actual figure and says that visitors attended reflected quality rather than quantity.

BAWTA chairman Sean Taggart says: “Pre-registration figures were up 47 per cent compared to last year and we had hoped this would be an indication of an increase in visitor numbers. However, Coach Tourism is not just about footfall – it’s a small show that attracts a select, high quality audience.

“We were of course hoping for the visitor numbers to be higher over the two days."

BAWTA claims the number of coach operators that attended increased by 16 per cent.

Meanwhile, next year’s show will take place at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena – whether it is a fresh start to attract more visitors, or simply just a new venue, remains to be seen.

www.coachtourism.com

THE TOURISM ALLIANCE has expressed its disappointment to the Labour Party as the government has indicated that tourism is not a priority for the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS).

In a letter to Tessa Jowell, secretary of state for culture, media and sport, prime minister Tony Blair has laid out seven priorities for her department - failing to mention the tourism industry.

Tourism is the sixth largest industry in Britain and generates £74billion per annum for the UK economy.

The government’s national tourism target of achieving £100billion by 2010 is at even further risk according to the Tourism Alliance, as the lack of investment in tourism will have a detrimental impact.

Tourism Alliance chairman Brigid Simmonds says: “Tourism is one of the largest industries in the UK, one of our biggest export earners and provides the chancellor of the exchequer with some £12billion per annum and yet this government continues to ignore it. In fact there has been no increase in government funding for international marketing since 1997 even though DCMS’s budget has increased by nearly 50 per cent in the last 5 years alone.”

www.tourismalliance.com