We Brits love our week in the sun. Pile them high and sell them cheap. Holiday companies fight tooth and nail for our hard earned cash. Prices are highly competitive. Choice is plentiful. New deals are always springing up. All that in a European Union where countries are happy to see us.
What’s that got to do with the EU? – I hear you say. Well there are several critical points to explore on the subject of travel. Today, we take a lot for granted but you only have to look back at the TV of the 1960s to see enormous change. Foreign travel was for the glamourous wealthy few as often depicted by the likes of Simon Templar (The Saint). Yes, I am a fan of Roger Moore.
Europe has taken down barriers and made it easier for us to go where we wish. In the last 20 years low-cost flying has grown to offer flights to all corners of Europe. Competition has brought real customer benefits. The EU single market and its lowering of regulatory barriers has made this possible. Even when you want to call home the EU helps by forcing down mobile phone roaming charges.
Not only is the EU good for the traveller but it’s good for the environment. EU funding of projects like the Single European Sky make more efficient use of our airspace.
Eurosceptics are calling for an uncertain leap into the dark. One thing is certain; outside the EU it will not be so easy to get from A to B on the continent. Why go back to the 1960s?
John Vincent 