Carbon tax threatens to ground Asia tourism

Asia’s US$100 billion international tourism industry is being put in jeopardy by a campaign by European environmentalists to limit air travel, with politicians poised to price long-haul destinations out of the market.

The European Community plans to cap emissions on all aircraft flying out of Europe as part of a carbon-trading scheme that will take effect in 2011. Airlines will have to buy permits for exceeding

carbon thresholds, with the cost being passed on to consumers.
In Germany and Britain, where anti-travel sentiment is strongest, would-be travelers are being urged to stay at home, and the issue has found its way onto mainstream political agendas.

British Conservative Party leader David Cameron, who may become his country’s next prime minister, says he will allow every Briton one short-haul air trip a year and make any subsequent flights unaffordable: what his party terms “pay-as-you-burn, not pay-as-you-earn”.

British Chancellor Gordon Brown has already increased the air passenger duty that has been added to the cost of all flights out of Britain for more than a decade. The ruling Labour Party has pledged to reduce Britain’s total carbon emissions by 60% by 2050.

Germany’s top state environmental official, Andreas Troge, has backed the green movement, offering an unusual partnership between government and activists that will put the squeeze on airlines.

“Anyone who flies to Southeast Asia should know that, by doing so, six tons of carbon dioxide are produced,” he said.

Asia Times