Tourism tax opens complex issue of tourism versus local community - Emma Ryan
An age old argument which crops up almost every week. Tourists versus locals.
While tourists say Whitby wouldn’t survive without them, the truth is it would.
But it would be a very different town.
Many local people run businesses which benefit from tourist trade - fish and chip shops, cleaning holiday cottages, bars, fishing trips and so on. Thousands of local people work in these sectors. If these businesses had to reduce staff, hours, opening times due to lack of visitors, local people would suffer.
However, when you look at the finer details of tourism versus local community, it is a more complex issue and the recent proposal to introduce a tourist tax has reopened it.
Tension arises when local authority funds are ploughed into schemes and projects aimed at visitors, yet issues affecting permanent residents are ignored.
Take this for an example. A route out of Whitby to the nearby village of Ruswarp has been closed since March 2024 when a tree fell. Given how busy roads in and out of town get, this was an alternative route between the two for local people.
A section of road around 20 yards long is blocked due to damage but diversion routes are more than six miles one way and three miles the other.
During summer the latter diversion was closed or with temporary lights for roadworks. The route to negate that issue is impossible because the swing bridge in Whitby town centre gets closed at peak times for the safety of the sheer volume of people who choose to walk in the road.
The council says there is a funding issue so won’t even think of fixing the first road closure until 2027. Application after application continues to come in and be approved for more holiday lets, but the council house waiting list is several months.
Visitors set up camp in motorhomes on the seawall or opposite people’s homes for days on end, despite overnight restrictions which go unenforced – yet for six months of the year locals (and visitors too as it goes) can’t walk dogs on the beach, maintained by a hefty monthly council tax bill. Tony Watson’s point about balance is welcome.
A tourist tax to recoup funds for local infrastructure is an interesting concept but only viable if the money goes directly back into the town it was taken from.
What makes Whitby so popular is its charm and that is derived from local people and characters. If you ignore their needs and push them out in favour of tourism, the whole ethos of what makes Whitby special and unique to visitors will be lost.