London's post-Olympic tourism boost could be wiped out by next year's increase in Air Passenger Duty (APD) airport departure tax, tourism bosses have warned.
As many as 84 per cent of tourism industry chiefs believe tourism to the capital would be damaged if the planned April 2013 APD rise goes ahead.
The majority of holidaymakers also said their travel plans could be affected by an APD increase.
The findings came in a survey by the organisers of travel trade exhibition World Travel Market (WTM) which opens in London tomorrow.
Around half of the 1,300 tourism chiefs questioned for the survey thought the higher resulting air fares from an APD increase would particularly affect people visiting from the growing Bric (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) markets, with Brazilians the most likely to be put off.
Of the 1,001 holidaymakers surveyed by WTM, more than half said an APD rise would lead to their altering holiday plans, with some likely to swap long-haul trips for short-haul ones.
Others said they might book fewer holidays while around 18 per cent were unsure what they would do.
WTM director Simon Press said: "It's heartbreaking to think the good work of an entire nation (from the Olympics) can be wiped out in an instant by the greed of the Government.
"APD has long been a punitive tax on tourism and its increase will make it even more so and ironically will most likely drive down revenues as fewer tourists come to the UK as a result."
