London Mayor Sadiq Khan revealed he is 'happy to look into' the possibility of bringing in a small charge for visitors to the capital - although no figure has yet been suggested.
Sadiq Khan is considering a tourist tax in London's hotels despite warnings from hospitality bosses that it would be 'extremely damaging' for businesses.
According to The Standard, the Labour Mayor said: 'I'm happy to look into where it's worked, what the issues are in relation to that particular policy... We'll be looking at what cities are doing not just across Europe, but in the UK as well.' 'The UK already ranks poorly in its competitiveness on the global tourism stage, with our high rate of VAT, and the introduction of a tourist tax would only damage that further.
The UK's first so-called coastal tourist tax across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in Dorset was approved in May following a ballot of hoteliers. It would have required guests staying in larger hotels to pay an extra £2 per room, per night - but this was then put on hold in July following opposition from more than 40 hotels who lodged an appeal with the government over how the ballot was conducted.
'This tax would be another cost to them, with punitive knock-on effects to hospitality. The tourist tax would be another revenue stream for Sadiq Khan to waste on frivolous projects and giveaways to his union mates, let's be very clear. At the conference on Monday, City of London Corporation policy chairman Chris Hayward said the tourist tax was something his team was already 'looking at'.
Claire Holland, chair of the London Councils group, added that boroughs were 'all for exploring with the Government, and with the Mayor, how there can be more fiscal devolution across London, including looking at how a tourism levy would work'. 'The Mayor is committed to working with businesses to further strengthen London's visitor offer and support the competitiveness of our tourism industry to build a better and more prosperous city for all.'
They a normally a charge per occupied bed or room and are set at a flat rate such as €2 per bed per night, or as a percentage of the price of the bed or room.In England, there are no powers held by the central government, local councils or mayors to introduce a tourist tax, unlike in some European cities – but Manchester and Liverpool have introduced it through a legal workaround.
In Liverpool, the BID levy covers the whole city and is payable for accommodation properties with a rateable value of £45,000 or more, with a cap of £50,000 per property. Thanet District Council in Kent had also been considering a tourist tax, but dropped the plans in April after concluding it does not have the power to implement them.
The idea of a tourist tax in London was previously floated in January 2017 when the Greater London Authority published a working paper on the topic. Back in September, Mr Khan was asked a question by Lib Dem Ms Bokhari about whether he would 'support the ability for London to introduce an overnight tourism levy such as the ones often seen in Europe and now Manchester', adding: 'If so, will you write to the new UK Government asking for the powers to be devolved to you?
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