Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair called on the Irish Government over the weekend to axe its €10 travel tax as Dublin Airport’s July traffic fell by 10 percent— a loss of 215,000 passengers in one month. While Irish traffic and tourism declines, Ryanair’s July traffic grew by 19 percent— 1 million additional passengers over July last year.
Ryanair believes that Dublin’s traffic and tourism decline is a direct result of the Irish Government’s €10 tourist tax and the increasing passenger charges at the government-owned DAA Monopoly. Ryanair urged the Irish government to follow the recent example of the Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish governments, all of whom have cut tourist taxes and/or reduced airport charges, in some case to zero, in order to stimulate tourism. Dublin Airport is now on target to lose 3 million passengers in 2009 a collapse of over 15 percent, the airline claims.