Local circumstances key to whether a tourist tax would work - Yorkshire Post Letters

Whether a tourist tax would be a good idea or not, depends very much upon local circumstances in each area.

If I lived in somewhere like Venice, Edinburgh or even York, I might very well feel that my home town or city had too many tourists and could wish to impose such a tax. York already has a sort of tourist tax known as a car parking charge.

However, for such a large and diverse area as North Yorkshire, it is a very different matter and proves to be an additional burden upon already stretched hospitality providers.

What Mayor, David Skaith is considering, would be better named as a ‘Hotel Tax’ or an ‘Accommodation Tax’, that would be imposed upon hotels and boarding houses, which are already subject to Council Tax, but not upon day trippers, or those sleeping on motor homes or boats or unregistered camp sites or premises just outside a local authority’s area. Then there are the ‘grey areas’ of holiday lets, house guests and lodgers.

If I were to rent a holiday cottage for a fortnight and have various groups of family members staying with me for different parts of my holiday, would I have to complete a return of how many were with me each night?

It has been suggested that any proceeds of such a tax ought to be spent on attracting and providing for tourists. If that is to happen, would this money be better spent by hospitality providers than by a local authority?