British Government urged to follow suit and scrap “counter-productive” Air Passenger Duty. Ireland’s Fine Gael-Labour coalition has promised to abolish tax on air travel, in an effort to increase the number of guests to the country.

The number of travellers flying into Ireland reduced from 7.7 million in 2007 to 5.6 million last year.

An air passenger tax of €10 per person was introduced two years ago, then reduced to €3 last year.

The move follows the Dutch government’s decision to abandon its tax on air travel in 2009. The tax recouped around €300 million each year, but was estimated to cost the country’s wider economy more than €1.2 billion.

The chief executive of Abta travel association, Mark Tanzer, revealed: “The Irish government is just the latest to see that taxing air passengers is counter-productive, with any revenue raised outweighed by the damage caused to the wider economy.”

Britain at present charges passengers the highest rates of aviation tax in Europe. Air Passenger Duty currently receives the Government around £3.8 billion each year.

Previous week, Telegraph Travel and Abta introduced a new petition for a fair tax on air travel.