On 27 March Christopher Lovewell, Transport for London, presented to Kent Business School CB558 students at Medway about the need for greater aviation capacity in London and the South East based on the recently published TFL reports.
Christopher discussed the related key recommendations and subsequent proposals being considered by the Mayor of London and the Coalition Government. He suggested that greater capacity would permit London and the UK to maintain (and in some sense regain) commercial and tourism competitiveness. The speaker proposed that if we don’t develop a hub airport soon we may well lose more commercial and tourism competitiveness to the rest of the world, especially as a result of the emerging economies in SE Asia and their ability to respond more swiftly to such opportunities. Students suggested that interim plans need to put into place as currently it may take up to 25-30 years for agreement on a hub airport to be reached and for it to be built as our competitive and tourism edge could be lost by then.
The Kent proposal is only one proposal for a site for the hub, but a site in the South East is seen as the most realistic by commerce (including the tourism sector) in London and the South East.
Caroline Walsh, convenor, said “For a module about about Contemporary Issues in Tourism it is hard to find an issue that may be more contemporary at the moment and one that is right on our door step in Medway!”
The Tourism Team and students would like to extend their warm and sincere thanks to Chris for taking time out from his busy schedule to join us today.