Exclusive:Tourist tax could raise £43m for York and North Yorkshire in one year, research finds

While a £2 nightly charge would raise around £43m, which mayor David Skaith says would “revolutionise” the region’s transport network.

Visitor levies are a small charge applied to accommodation to invest back into the local area.

Currently, only Scottish councils can officially introduce a tourist tax, after Holyrood passed legislation on this last year, however there are workarounds which have allowed Manchester to add a £1 fee on hotel rooms.

Edinburgh became the first city to approve a visitor levy in January, charging a 5 per cent fee, capped at seven nights, on their hotel and AirBnB bills.

Yorkshire’s metro mayors, like Mr Skaith, have consistently been calling on the Government to be given these powers.

Prof Brendan Paddison, Dean of York Business School and professor of tourism geographies, said the key to getting buy-in from the public was by ensuring that the funds were reinvested in local infrastructure and high street maintenance.

“As part of the research, we’ve been keen to capture the positive impacts of what a levy would bring,” he said.

“That could be infrastructure support, improving the public realm, support for businesses and community projects.

“At the same time, we have looked at what might be the implication as to whether people want to visit a place.”

Concerns have been raised that a visitor levy, alongside North Yorkshire’s double-rate of council tax for second homes and holiday lets, could put off some of the six million tourists that stay overnight.

However, Mr Skaith cited the example of European cities, like Barcelona, which have not seen visitor numbers drop.

“I see it as a great way to promote the whole sector even more,” he said.

“This is a very common practice in Europe and we are not seeing numbers not drop off at all.

“I think it’s an opportunity to not only support services that support local people, but also support people who are visiting the region even more.”

While previously localised visitor levies in places like Scarborough, Whitby and York, which are hugely popular with tourists, have been discussed, Mr Skaith said he was keen to have a flat rate across the whole region.

“That would be where the strength of it would be, and the strength of our argument into Government,” he said.

“This is a very significant amount of money for any region, but especially for York and North Yorkshire.”

Mr Skaith will present the York St John research to the Treasury and central Government to try and get the powers devolved.

“We want to get government on board with this,” he said.

“We have had really positive conversations with them and that’s why we’ve commissioned this piece of work.”

Marcus Johns, senior research fellow at IPPR North, said that with the English Devolution Bill making its way through Parliament it was “a golden opportunity to make this a reality”.

“We’ve long backed giving mayors the power to introduce a visitor levy, so this new research showing its potential value is welcome.

“A levy would let mayors raise and spend money locally, for the benefit of local people — something the public clearly supports.”