Travel: Tourism tax, Foreign Office warnings and airport delays

What should you be aware of when booking a holiday this year?

Transcript

00:00 When it comes to travelling abroad, how aware should you be of foreign office warnings and

00:06 changes to things like tourism tax, which are starting to be implemented in certain

00:10 parts of Spain?

00:12 The head of the Gran Canaria local authority, Antonio Morales, said they wanted to control

00:18 the area more effectively. He added it was part of a wider plan to protect the island's

00:22 natural spaces from environmental damage, which included the Maspaloma Sands dune and

00:28 Bandama caldera.

00:30 According to the Independent, a poll of 1,330 adults who have travelled abroad in the last

00:36 year found 71% have had a flight either delayed or cancelled. How do airport delays then impact

00:43 the travel experience?

00:46 There's lots of reasons why your plane can be delayed. Some of those fall within the

00:50 airline's responsibility and in their control and some outside. For instance, all the recent

00:57 flight delays and cancellations I can think of were down to adverse weather conditions.

01:01 Now, of course, airlines can't control the weather, but it's something that, as I've

01:07 mentioned, has increased in prevalence and will only continue to do so as climate change

01:12 continues to be a big problem. You see those two extremes of weather, the hot and the cold.

01:17 You see the storms and the wind. We all like to tune in, don't we, to see the planes try

01:21 and land. But it is a big, major problem.

01:27 News on tourism tax comes after angry locals in Tenerife protested against mass tourism.

01:33 The residents went on to claim that holidaymakers drive down wages, squeeze locals out of cheap

01:38 affordable housing, reportedly consequently forcing dozens of locals to live in tents

01:44 and cars instead.

01:46 The Rock New Blow is a volcanic rock and is the third highest point on the island of Gran

01:50 Canaria. Local authorities are considering imposing entry fees on places like this, for

01:56 in an attempt to control visitor numbers.