‘Hands off our holiday, Mr Taxman!’ campaign

Genium created a suite of items, including leaflets, posters, t-shirts and website graphics for the airline sector which launched a campaign against Air Passenger Duty (APD).

Called ‘Hands off Our Holiday’, the campaign was launched at nine UK airports – Gatwick, Luton, London City, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol, Belfast International and Newquay.

This campaign to persuade the government to drop a planned rise in air passenger duty (APD) began at airports, with campaigners handing leaflets to passengers declaring ‘Hands off our holiday, Mr Taxman’. Staff, wearing t-shirts saying ‘Hands off our holiday, Mr Taxman’ encouraged passengers at each airport to complain to their Member of Parliament about next year’s double-inflation rise in APD.

This campaign had the backing of three major airline bodies: the Airport Operators Association (AOA), British Air Transport Association (BATA) – which counts all the major UK airlines, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and easyJet among its members – and the Board of Airline Representatives in the UK (BAR-UK).

A website www.handsoffourholiday.com was set up where people could register their protest and encouraged the public to tweet their support, using the hashtag #handsoffourhols.