A number of travel and tourism businesses and groups have teamed up for a new campaign to encourage the government to prevent any further increases in aviation tax.

Fair Tax on Flying is being led by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), which has revealed that UK holidaymakers pay the highest levels of flight tax in Europe. The association said there had been a 2,600 per cent increase in revenue from Air Passenger Duty since its introduction in 1994, with the Treasury to receive £2.2bn this year alone.

According to a study carried out by ComRes on behalf of ABTA, 63 per cent of consumers believe aviation tax levels to be too high. ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said: "The Prime Minister has identified tourism as one of the top five industries to drive growth, yet aviation tax has become a punitive stealth tax.

"It is vital that the government understands the impact it is having on the health of the tourism industry in the UK. The industry is willing to pay its way, but a 26-fold increase since 1994 puts the UK at a competitive disadvantage." UKinbound chief executive Mary Rance added: "[The tax] acts directly against the wider objective of making the UK one of the top five tourism countries and is certainly a barrier to growth in inbound tourism, the third largest export industry to the UK."