APD is the biggest hurdle to the recovery of the UK travel industry, delegates at WTM heard today.

Caroline Bremner, Euromonitor International's global travel and tourism manager, said the tax was "making the UK very uncompetitive".

Speaking at the WTM Forecast Forum, she said: "The Netherlands abandoned the tax recently because it realised that it was losing money, and the grouping together of the industry [in the UK] to fight it at the moment is key to avoid inhibiting future growth."

Her comments came after the revelation that the US travel market is benefiting enormously from the rise of travel expenditure of the so-called "funemployed".

Companies such as Intrepid Travel are pushing the "laid off, take off" message. The US market is offering cheap trips to the unemployed who are choosing to spend their redundancy on seeing the world while waiting for the economy to recover.

This, according to Bremner, is not happening in the UK because of APD; instead the focus here is on offering insurance to the employed should they lose their job.

Bremner also revealed that online travel sales are up 4% this year in the UK compared with down 1% overall, which suggests traditional retail outlets are being outperformed by the internet.

In the hotel sector, the trends report said the emerging trend in the UK was for pop-up hotels which took less time to build and were more environmentally friendly.

In Europe, concierge travel services were said to be on the rise and becoming more commonplace in the mid-market rather than being reserved for the luxury end.

Companies such as Virgin Holidays and Kuoni were touted as leading the trend having recognised that technology and increasing customer expectations meant travellers wanted a more individual and tailored service.

Africa is seeing a sharp rise in visitors thanks to the Obama effect and the increased popularity of geneaology among African Americans who want to embark on so-called "roots tourism".

Latin America is investing in luxury travel but, according to the report, will need to make sure infrastructure and service can meet the demands of luxury travellers.

Hotel companies such as Four Seasons see the emerging market as a land of opportunity since it has weathered the economic storm better than much of the globe.

Asia is going crazy for golf tourism with China now fifth in terms of number of golf courses with many more in the pipeline.

And women-only hotels are on the rise in the Middle East.

TTG Travel Intelligence Report 2009: Meet the team at WTM