Wales introduces a tax for visitors staying overnight in hotels, Airbnbs and campsites
The "visitor levy" will be set a £1.25 a night for hotels
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Mark Drakeford has just announced a new bill which will enable councils to charge people for staying overnight in Welsh hotels, airbnbs, self catered lets and campsites.
This “visitor levy” is similar to what you pay when you go to places like Barcelona on holiday.
I have been through the plans and have put together this little guide so you can understand what they are doing, who it affects and why they are introducing it.
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How much is the levy?
If a council introduces the levy there is a fixed fee per night of:
£1.25 a night for AirBNBs, hotels and self catered lets
£0.75 per night for campsites (pitches) and stays in hostels
The amount is set by Welsh Government ministers and can be changed by them.
Who pays it?
This is an indirect tax. It is intended that the businesses will pass this on to their guests, but they could absorb the payment themselves.
Does everyone have to pay this? Does it apply to kids?
The payment does apply to children. So if you had two parents and two children staying in a hotel for seven nights that would add up to £35.
There are some occasions where someone who has incurred the levy can get a refund:
Disabled people travelling with a carer.
Homeless stays when they were placed by the local authority
Emergency stays (where someone can’t stay at their home because of fire, flood or some other threat to health safety or wellbeing)
Also if you stay somewhere for over 31 nights you are not subject to the levy. This is to make sure that they don’t tax people who are residents in a hotel or hostel.
When is this coming in?
The earliest possible date is April 2027. There is a process where local authorities have to consult with the local communities before bringing it in. It is ultimately up to a local council whether they introduce it or not.
Why has this been brought in and what is the money going to be spent on?
The reason the Welsh Gov are offering councils this option is to try and reduce the impact mass tourism has on local Welsh communities.
The money goes to the local council where the tax was paid and they must use the proceeds for any of the following:
Mitigate the impact of visitors
Maintain and promote the Welsh language
Promote and support the sustainable economic growth of tourism and other kinds of travel.
Providing, maintaining and improving infrastructure, facilities and services for use by visitors (whether or not they are also for use by local people).
How much will this raise?
If all 22 Welsh councils take up the scheme it is estimated it will raise about £33m a year.
How much it will raise for each council depends very much on the area. Places like Blaenau Gwent will see significantly less income than counties such as Conwy, Cardiff and Pembrokeshire. This is both because of their size and the amount of tourists they get.
Who administers this?
The Welsh Revenue Authority will administer and collect the levy on behalf of councils that opt in. The Welsh Gov are funding the set up costs and the plan is for operating costs to be recuperated from the levy itself. The idea behind having a central administrator is to keep it as simple as possible and reduce hassle for local authorities.
How will this impact tourism?
There will be an economic impact assessment published as part of the levy. I will be going through this in the next newsletter.
How is this different to a similar scheme in Scotland?
The Scottish scheme has a few differences:
Scottish local authorities can set the rates at anything they want whereas the Welsh one is fixed.
There is no central administrator in Scotland so it is done by each council.
Scottish councils can set more exceptions whereas they can't in Wales.
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Take care
Will
The debates within our local authorities will be interesting as there will be some councils where a high number of members will have a personal AND prejudicial interest and shouldn't partake in any debate or vote on the matter but will they. I suspect that monitoring officers in the tourist areas will be very busy as will Ombudsman Wales. There will be a lots of fallouts and resignations over this I suspect.
Welsh Government should have introduced it directly and not let omnicompetent councils anywhere near it.
I'm here in the USA and it's fascinating to see that Greed has no boundaries. Thank You for your post this morning ☕ and will reStack ASAP 💯👍