Edgar Filing: RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 6-K

Report of Foreign Private Issuer

Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

For the month of June 2009

RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC
(Translation of registrant's name into English)

c/o Ryanair Ltd Corporate Head Office
Dublin Airport
County Dublin Ireland
(Address of principal executive offices)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

Form 20-F..X.. Form 40-F.....

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information
contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the
Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934.

Yes ..... No ..X..

If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant
in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- ________

GOVERNMENT MUST SCRAP £10 TOURIST TAX
AND BREAKUP BAA MONOPOLY AS BAA TRAFFIC FALLS 4.5 MILLION
IN 5 MONTHS

Ryanair freezes growth at 9 UK bases with immediate effect

Ryanair

, Europe's largest

low fares airline, today (23

^rd

June

)

confirmed that

it will

freeze

growth at its nine UK bases with immediate effect

. Ryanair

highlighted

that Gordon Brown'

s £10 tourist tax, combined

with

the

BAA

onopoly

's high airport

charges

have

caused

the

loss of over 4.5 million passenger

at the BAA UK airports

in the first five months of the year.

Ryanair

called on

Gordon Brown

to scrap this £10 APD

tax and

speed up

the sale of

Gatwick and

Stansted airports to prevent a further collapse in

tourism

and related jobs

winter.

the

traffic collapse

continues for the full year the

economy will lose over 10 million passengers, 10,000 airport jobs and over £2.5billion in tourism spend in 2009 alone, with the Government losing at least £350 million in VAT receipts.

The

now

high cost

tourism destination which is in steep decline.

Ryanair

urged the

British

Government

to follow the lead of t

he Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish Governments

who have

recently scrapped similar tourist taxes and/or airport charges in order to reverse falling passenger numbers and prevent fur

ther tourism and job losses.

Ryanair

Michael O'Leary

said:

Ryanair will grow by 15% this year to over 67 million passengers. However, the

will not

share in

any

of this

growth

in 2009

Ryanair (

the only

major E

uro

pean airline continuing to grow)

freezes growth at our nine

bases.

Gordon Brown's

10 tourist

tax

will see

Britain

lose

over

10 million passengers,

10,000

airport

jobs and more than £2.5 billion in tourism spend

in the

this year alone

The G

overnment

should

follow the example of their Belgian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish counterparts by immediately scrapping

this

stupid and regressive tourist tax to avoid any further devastation to

British

tourism and jobs.

Tourism is one of the UK's most important industries and employers. It responds q

uickly to price

changes

. The G

overnment's £10 tourist tax is making

the

an uncompetitive desti

nation and they must

scrap this tax

now to prevent

further collapse of

passenger

tourism and job

numbers

While the UK keeps taxing tourists Ryanair will switch its growth to other EU countries where low cost

airports are growing and where G

overnments are wel

coming tourists not taxing them

Ends.

Tuesday,

^rd

June 2009

For further information:

Stephen McNamara

Pauline McAlester

Ryanair

Ltd

Murray Consultants

Tel: +353-1-8121212

Tel. +353-1-4980300

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized.

RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC

Date: 23 June 2009

	By:___/s/ Juliusz Komorek____

	Juliusz Komorek
	Company Secretary