September 16, 2002
Hanover seminar highlights role of coach in tourism
Hanover – The IRU’s German Passenger Member Association, the association of German coach operators BDO is joining with the international coach tourism association RDA and the German automobile industry association VDA to jointly stage a seminar on coach tourism on 17 September 2002. The seminar, entitled: The Coach: the better solution for Tourism, is part of the IAA international motor show in Hanover, Germany, organised by the VDA.
The IRU’s newly appointed head of Passenger Transport, Jens Hügel, said: “This seminar is an excellent way of underlining the coach’s very positive contribution to society. Decision makers sometimes need to be reminded that coaches are an extremely accessible, safe and environmentally friendly transport option. As well as being a vital component of the tourist industry, they are also an excellent tool for helping to reduce road congestion.”
The national associations which form the IRU’s Passenger Transport Council are concerned that a lack of awareness about the benefits of privately operated buses and coaches is creating a climate in which counterproductive transport policy decisions are being taken. The major EU transport policy guideline, the White Paper on European Transport Policy published last year by European Commission, runs to over 100 pages, but makes no reference to coaches, except in statistical data tables.
A more harmful example is VAT discrimination: while no VAT is levied on air travel, it is payable for trips by bus or coach. It cannot be argued that coaches are less useful to society than aircraft, so why discriminate against them fiscally? Other examples are the “anti-coach” policies implemented by certain municipal governments, designed to deter coaches from entering their city centres. Yet it is those very same coaches which bring the tourists that local employers such as hotels, museums, restaurants, shops and theatres depend on. The economic significance of coach tourism was documented in an IRU study entitled Moving people, driving the economy, published in 2001.
The IRU and VDA are also staging another symposium at IAA on 18 September, entitled: Enlargement of the EU – Challenge for Freight Transport.
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