Councillors on Bath & North East Somerset Council have voted unanimously in support of being able to introduce a tourist tax.
English councils do not yet have the power to introduce such a measure, but councils in Scotland do and Wales is following suit.
Now Bath & North East Somerset Council leader Kevin Guy has written to local government secretary Angela Rayner, in a joint letter with the leader of Cambridge City Council, urging the government to give England’s historic cities the same power.
Councillor Guy (Bathavon North, Liberal Democrat) told a council meeting on 17th July, where councillors were voting on a motion in support of being able to introduce a tourist tax: “We are not acting along and all we are doing is asking is for the government to give us a fair deal because, at the moment, English cities are being short changed.”
Bath has six million visitors per year, bringing in half a billion pounds in local economic benefit and supporting 8,000 jobs, proposer of the motion Michelle Doherty (Newbridge, Liberal Democrat) told the meeting.
She said: “This motion is not about discouraging tourism.
“We really value our visitors and we want them to continue coming, but like many European cities, we think visitors should make a small contribution towards the cost of keeping our city clean and safe and welcoming.”
She added: “This isn’t about creating a new huge revenue stream — although a modest charge per night could bring in a couple of million pounds per year for the council which would make a real difference given the pressures on our budgets.”
The tourist tax proposal was met with support across the political spectrum. Labour opposition leader Robin Moss (Westfield) seconded the motion and former Conservative council leader Tim Warren (Midsomer Norton Redfield) said: “This is something I looked at a lot of years ago. We spoke to Rishi Sunak when he was a junior minister.”
Karen Walker (Peasedown, Independents for B&NES) said she supported the idea in principle but warned it could price out low income families. Shaun Hughes (Midsomer Norton North, Independent Group) said: “I think it’s an option we should have available to us as a financial tool. Whether we should then actually use it is going to take a lot more debate.”
He added: “We recently saw how vibrant Bath can be. We had Robbie Williams playing in the Royal Crescent and we had the Bath Rugby victory tour. It would be great to use this to find other ways to encourage more visitors to stay overnight instead of the daily coach trips we see.”
Every councillor present voted in support of the motion. Unusually, every vote which went before the council at the meeting received unanimous support from the six different political groups on the council.
How would a Bath tourist tax work?
Councillors were only voting on whether they supported the principle of a tourist tax, not on actually introducing one or how it would work — but it is expected to take the form of an additional charge on overnight stays paid by the visitor to the local council.
The letter from Councillor Guy and the leader of Cambridge City Council to the government spoke of “a tourist levy associated with overnight stays”.
The letter states: “The revenue generated could be reinvested into the community, improving facilities and services for both residents and visitors.”
Councillor Guy said: “Any levy should apply fairly across all types of accommodation, including short-term lets such as Airbnb.”
Councillor Doherty said that charges used in Europe were paid by visitors, not by local businesses. She told the meeting that she envisioned a lower charge for people staying in cheaper accommodation.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
