In order to meet the Treasury's target of £3.8 billion in APD receipts by 2015, up from £2.3 billion last year, future increases in APD are likely to be severe. British air passenger numbers are dwindling – down from 81 million in 2007 to 63 million in 2010. Our travelling horizons have also narrowed: Heathrow, our flagship airport, has fallen from first to fifth place in Europe in terms of the number of destinations served.

Britons are also reducing the length of their holidays to ensure that they can still afford their annual break. An analysis of more than three million holidays published this week by Co-operative Travel found that the percentage of four-night breaks has grown by 50 per cent and of 10-night breaks by 162 per cent since 2005.

British travellers are already having to tighten their belts. Leading tour operators have joined airlines in adding surcharges to flights in response to rising fuel prices, while low-cost airlines continue to add punitive fees for checking in luggage and paying by card. On Ryanair, for example, if each member of a family of four checks in one bag (20kg), they will be charged a total of £280 return during peak periods. On the same airline fees for paying by card ("administrative fees") have risen from £20 to £48 return for a family of four.

There is also the small matter of Britain's joining the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) next year, as a result of which airlines face the prospect of paying twice for their carbon footprint – costs that will inevitably be added to fares.

"The Chancellor now needs to set out the Government's approach on reducing taxes on flying when the ETS comes in," said Simon Buck, chief executive of the British Air Transport Association. "There should be no double taxation of British aviation."

It was good to hear in the Budget that the worst inequities of Air Passenger Duty may be addressed, but frustrating that the commitment was not firmer – "may" remains the operative word. In their manifestos both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had promised to move to a system of taxing per plane rather than per passenger, but this week such a switch was all but ruled out by George Osborne, who said it would contravene international law.

At present, APD does not apply to private jets or their passengers. There was a commitment to "consultations" over that omission, but no detail on how, when and how much the owners of this most environmentally irresponsible form of transport will pay.

Mr Osborne promised to look at the farcical banding system of APD, under which passengers flying to the Caribbean pay more than those flying to Hawaii (some Caribbean islands last year experienced a drop in visitor numbers from Britain of as much as 25 per cent) – but he didn't say when.

Finally, the Chancellor said he would look at the disproportionate level of duty paid by passengers travelling in premium-economy class, but he gave no guarantee that those who like a little more legroom will fare any better than those who lie flat in first class.

APD causes difficulties not just for British travellers. Visitors to Britain are liable to pay the duty when they fly home, a fact that could prompt some holidaymakers and business travellers to bypass Britain altogether. That is an issue of real concern in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.

A recent survey by the European Tour Operators' Association found that more than two thirds of inbound operators expect a 30 per cent drop in visitors to London in 2012 compared with 2011, while outbound operators anticipate an increase in visitors to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.

Earlier this month, John Penrose, the Government's new tourism minster, said that he hopes to see more Britons taking holidays at home. If APD goes up again next year, that might be our only option.

How to keep travelling in cash-strapped times