Hit by Tourist Tax

[Kups]

Nor does it show any indication that folks will pay it once, but will not return. Not saying that any of the above are true, because I don't know, but I bet the council or the group mentioned don't know either.

Tourist tax is in many, many countries around the world. Use of that income varies by country. I've been involved professionally in surveying tourists motivations for staying/not staying in areas/facilities and hotels. Some UK councils will carry out this type of survey to look at changes in behaviour. However in the not too distance future I foresee all the major tourist destinations across the UK introducing such a tax, maybe even government action to keep the rate the same nationally. When everyone is charging the tax it becomes less of an issue between areas. But of course there needs to be a local mechanism to collect the tax which is something the UK will need to get to grips with. Best to keep the money where it is collected rather than HM Treasury getting its sticky fingers all over it.

 

[DT]

Tax tax tax imagine life with no tax

 

[nicholsong]

Tax tax tax imagine life with no tax

That is covered by the other inevitability - DEATH.

You choose!

 

[nicholsong]

Tourist tax is in many, many countries around the world. Use of that income varies by country. I've been involved professionally in surveying tourists motivations for staying/not staying in areas/facilities and hotels. Some UK councils will carry out this type of survey to look at changes in behaviour. However in the not too distance future I foresee all the major tourist destinations across the UK introducing such a tax, maybe even government action to keep the rate the same nationally. When everyone is charging the tax it becomes less of an issue between areas. But of course there needs to be a local mechanism to collect the tax which is something the UK will need to get to grips with. Best to keep the money where it is collected rather than HM Treasury getting its sticky fingers all over it.

No, No, No! Not another layer of taxation offices in each local council area, and just to collect itsy-bitsy amounts from every hotel, B&B, BNB and campsite. Cost more than the collection I would estimate.

 

[Richard n Ann]

We used to drive down the Med coast avoiding where we weren't welcome. Once safely through catalonia it's OK to stop. I wonder how much money they lose or would lose if we stick together. It's just greed in my opinion.

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[dna]

Have paid it when staying at hotels in the US for years but don’t know where the money goes.

I was thinking about tax when away in Woolacombe last week, 3 lots of public toilets in a small coastal village and numerous trailers with rubbish bins in pulled down to the beach as the tide goes out, who pays for that?
Not seen this anywhere before and most places in the UK you would be lucky to find a public toilet, saying that stopped at a large rest area off the A35 and the toilet block was locked upthat was a good idea!!

Parkin Estates own the beach, shops / cafes / toilets at the beach access points and the main car parks in Woolacombe. They must make a good income from these but they do provide the bins and the refreshment vans on the beach.

I have to remind myself of this when paying the significant daily car park fee when there! My Avatar is the view from my van on the car park at the beach - I must like it!

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

I have to remind myself of this when paying the significant daily car park fee when there!

I didn’t think £8 for all day or £4 up to 13-00 was to bad, definitely cheaper than Hayling my local beach £15 for any sort of motorhome as soon as you park up

 

[Peavy]

avoiding where we weren't welcome.

It's an option.
In my opinion it is interesting to understand the origin of the problem and, consequently, the possible measures to be adopted by the locals or the authorities.
Barcelona has the same number of inhabitants as in 1992 (1.7 million, as gus-lopez said), however it has gone from less than 2 million tourists to almost 10 million a year!
The city's inhabitants suffer from the brutal increase in prices when buying or renting homes and the invasion of cruise ships that can disembark up to 20,000 people in a single day. Neighborhoods like El Born or La Barceloneta have lost their inhabitants and their personality, displaced by the invasion of tourist flats (Airnbnb type) and by bachelor parties organized by drunk tourists.
You wouldn't want to live in a city like that.
I love my city, like many of you do (architecture, streets, culture, gastronomy...), but I am glad not to live there anymore.
And we cannot blame the tourists, but the authorities.
It is dying of success as a result of poor management.

 

[stewartwebr]

It's an option.
In my opinion it is interesting to understand the origin of the problem and, consequently, the possible measures to be adopted by the locals or the authorities.
Barcelona has the same number of inhabitants as in 1992 (1.7 million, as gus-lopez said), however it has gone from less than 2 million tourists to almost 10 million a year!
The city's inhabitants suffer from the brutal increase in prices when buying or renting homes and the invasion of cruise ships that can disembark up to 20,000 people in a single day. Neighborhoods like El Born or La Barceloneta have lost their inhabitants and their personality, displaced by the invasion of tourist flats (Airnbnb type) and by bachelor parties organized by drunk tourists.
You wouldn't want to live in a city like that.
I love my city, like many of you do (architecture, streets, culture, gastronomy...), but I am glad not to live there anymore.
And we cannot blame the tourists, but the authorities.
It is dying of success as a result of poor management.

Unfortunately, Edinburgh is becoming very much like what you describe and it is fully supported by the city council. In a list of priorities, tourists, students, cyclists, non car owning residents then right at the bottom are the council tax paying residents who they don’t give a hoot about.

 

[Kups]

No, No, No! Not another layer of taxation offices in each local council area, and just to collect itsy-bitsy amounts from every hotel, B&B, BNB and campsite. Cost more than the collection I would estimate.

I'm sure that Councils will look at the net benefit of charging a tourist tax. It will be computerised so easy to manage. The Manchester scheme includes currently 73 businesses. They are billed every quarter based on average occupancy across the city. So 73 bills 4 times a year is just going to be tagged onto the Council Tax billing run. Zero additional staff in their case. My old authority Cambridge City Council is looking at a £2 per person per night tax from 2025. The tax billing job is a small task when you're set up to issue millions of council tax bills.

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[Spriddler]

Hit by Tourist Tax​

Now on Campsite just below Barcelona, got charged 3.25 Euro's Tourist Tax

Maybe I have a different attitude to expense but I wouldn't call a small daily 3,25 euros charge a 'Hit'.

 

[nicholsong]

I'm sure that Councils will look at the net benefit of charging a tourist tax. It will be computerised so easy to manage. The Manchester scheme includes currently 73 businesses. They are billed every quarter based on average occupancy across the city. So 73 bills 4 times a year is just going to be tagged onto the Council Tax billing run. Zero additional staff in their case. My old authority Cambridge City Council is looking at a £2 per person per night tax from 2025. The tax billing job is a small task when you're set up to issue millions of council tax bills.

Only 73 businesses accommodating all visitors to Manchester?

Why based on " based on average occupancy across the city."? How does the City Council collect info on occupancy rates?

What is the tax per visitor per night?

Businesses pay Business Rates not Council Tax.

All in all it does not sound like a very well organised scheme, as described by you.

 

[Kups]

Only 73 businesses accommodating all visitors to Manchester?

Why based on " based on average occupancy across the city."? How does the City Council collect info on occupancy rates?

What is the tax per visitor per night?

Businesses pay Business Rates not Council Tax.

All in all it does not sound like a very well organised scheme, as described by you.

I summarised the media articles. There are 73 hotels in the scheme which only started recently.
If a tourist stays at an Airbnb, small hotel, hostel, or bed and breakfast they will not to pay.

The scheme is run by the Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District . All the information is here if you want to read through. Here's a bit from " Who we are"

"Led by the Manchester Hoteliers’ Association in collaboration and partnership with Marketing Manchester, CityCo and both Manchester and Salford City Councils, the Manchester Accommodation BID is a direct response to significant challenges currently facing the accommodation sector in Manchester, including recovery from the pandemic and the impact that Brexit has had on the hospitality sector."
So a very hotel led scheme.

Home - Manchester ABID

manchesterabid.com

 

[Tony50]

Hit by Tourist Tax​

Maybe I have a different attitude to expense but I wouldn't call a small daily 3,25 euros charge a 'Hit'.

Actually it's better than that we have moved on to a campsite in Vendrell, Spain how campsite have priced it is as follows paid for 3 nights,2 persons= 6 x 0.66 = 3.96 euros this is how it's put down on the invoice!!

 

[nicholsong]

I summarised the media articles. There are 73 hotels in the scheme which only started recently.
If a tourist stays at an Airbnb, small hotel, hostel, or bed and breakfast they will not to pay.

The scheme is run by the Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District . All the information is here if you want to read through. Here's a bit from " Who we are"

"Led by the Manchester Hoteliers’ Association in collaboration and partnership with Marketing Manchester, CityCo and both Manchester and Salford City Councils, the Manchester Accommodation BID is a direct response to significant challenges currently facing the accommodation sector in Manchester, including recovery from the pandemic and the impact that Brexit has had on the hospitality sector."
So a very hotel led scheme.

Home - Manchester ABID

manchesterabid.com

OK I have read it, but other than mention of a 'statutory levy', unexplained as to what statute applies, the scheme seems nothing like a 'Tourist Tax' by a government, central or local.

I note the charge is £1 per night per room, not per person.

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[Kups]

OK I have read it, but other than mention of a 'statutory levy', unexplained as to what statute applies, the scheme seems nothing like a 'Tourist Tax' by a government, central or local.

I note the charge is £1 per night per room, not per person.

It's a local tax created by delegated powers to the Manchester Mayor and approved by Manchester and Salford councils. They call it a tourist tax so who are we to say it's not. There will be similar schemes appearing across the country. Each one will have its own features. No signal from Westminster that they are interested in a nationwide scheme.

 

[mark49]

We pay tax on everything we ride,sit,eat,drink,drive,watch. Everytime organisers mess up n waste, they look for a tax n make it sound a reasonable request. Never ends.

 

[dna]

I didn’t think £8 for all day or £4 up to 13-00 was to bad, definitely cheaper than Hayling my local beach £15 for any sort of motorhome as soon as you park up

The charge varies and seems to depend on the time of year and demand. It is worth it if I can get a front row place when the car park opens. You can't queue for the entrance due to where it is so i have seen motorhomes / vans / cars going round the block a few times waiting to be allowed onto the car park. There is a mini grand prix at opening time whilst people try to secure their favourite place.

Keeping enough pound coins to hand so that you can feed the exit barrier at the end of the day means I sometimes have to patronise the bar on the campsite in the evening to refill my change pot.

 

[chaser]

I havnt read every post here but don't understand why if you come from one country and holiday in the same country, England as we are talking here. You have already paid your tax at home so why do you have to pay again just to sleep somewhere else in England.

 

[The Wino]

I havnt read every post here but don't understand why if you come from one country and holiday in the same country, England as we are talking here. You have already paid your tax at home so why do you have to pay again just to sleep somewhere else in England.

Because the place you're going to if it's a big holiday destination has to have the infrastructure to cope with dealing with the needs of hordes of tourists. IA different option would be to fund councils in tourist areas to provide the infrastructure from central government ( so every taxpayer pays but unfair on people who don't go on holiday in the UK) or increase local buisness rates ( unfair on buisness that doesn't benefit from tourism and the people buying their products).

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[chaser]

Because the place you're going to if it's a big holiday destination has to have the infrastructure to cope with dealing with the needs of hordes of tourists. IA different option would be to fund councils in tourist areas to provide the infrastructure from central government ( so every taxpayer pays but unfair on people who don't go on holiday in the UK) or increase local buisness rates ( unfair on buisness that doesn't benefit from tourism and the people buying their products).

I would have thought its up to the camps and hotels to deal with the needs of their guests not government.

 

[DelMar]

Wales is starved of money, we get hand outs. Population is small, we have lovely beaches, great countryside and gorgeous scenery. But Wales compared with other places is lagging behind. Why do people, who will spend £70-80,000 on a MH, then grumble over a few pennies of tourist tax, which is now almost everywhere.

I’m a tax paying pensioner, but don’t object to paying a tourist tax towards infrastructure that we use as tourists. I know before I go to Spain or France I will have to pay it. It is no surprise.

 

[The Wino]

I would have thought its up to the camps and hotels to deal with the needs of their guests not government.

How about the increased stress on parking,litter, bin collection, advertising the area etc. You can't double the population of a coastal town over the summer without increased local services people do generally go out of the hotel or campsites! ( Except the peg out a few square metres of grass with a windbreak and sit on a lounger all day crew!)

 

[Kups]

How about the increased stress on parking,litter, bin collection, advertising the area etc. You can't double the population of a coastal town over the summer without increased local services people do generally go out of the hotel or campsites! ( Except the peg out a few square metres of grass with a windbreak and sit on a lounger all day crew!)

Quite correct. My experience of managing tourism in Cambridge is even more extreme. Cambridge has a small medieval town centre with a world famous university it attracts 8.2million visitors annually, which is worth about £849million to the local economy. The visitor economy also accounts for around 22 per cent of jobs in the city. The current population of the city is around 150,000 residents plus of course the students as temporary residents. This massive influx of visitors costs the City and County Councils enormous amounts of cash not provided by Council Tax payments to manage all the effects of those visitors. That is why Cambridge will be the next place (2025) to introduce a levy on hotel rooms, meaning that visitors to certain hotels would be charged an extra £2 per room per night. Some estimates think this could raise anywhere up to £2.6 million a year for the city, depending on how many people are staying in the hotels. There's still a lot of preparatory work to be done but it will happen.

 

[nicholsong]

Quite correct. My experience of managing tourism in Cambridge is even more extreme. Cambridge has a small medieval town centre with a world famous university it attracts 8.2million visitors annually, which is worth about £849million to the local economy. The visitor economy also accounts for around 22 per cent of jobs in the city. The current population of the city is around 150,000 residents plus of course the students as temporary residents. This massive influx of visitors costs the City and County Councils enormous amounts of cash not provided by Council Tax payments to manage all the effects of those visitors. That is why Cambridge will be the next place (2025) to introduce a levy on hotel rooms, meaning that visitors to certain hotels would be charged an extra £2 per room per night. Some estimates think this could raise anywhere up to £2.6 million a year for the city, depending on how many people are staying in the hotels. There's still a lot of preparatory work to be done but it will happen.

Will MHs staying in the P+R be charged? If so only if they stay the night? What about all the day trippers?

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[BillandHelen]

We are currently over in San Francisco on holiday, on top of your room rate they charge, $30 destination charge, $5 tourist charge and 8.5% sales tax. They do give you a range of freebies to offset.
Most restaurants also add $5 charge to cover employee benefits and that’s before you add your minimum 20% tip and sales tax.
Personally I’d rather see them just put up the base price to include everything and pay their staff a decent wage.

 

[Kups]

Will MHs staying in the P+R be charged? If so only if they stay the night? What about all the day trippers?

No they will not, this scheme only includes hotels initially. The hotels charge their guests and pay the money to the Council. The one P+R site at Trumpington is daytime parking only now. https://www.searchforsites.co.uk/markerMobile.php?id=27151

 

[Fragle]

Have not been back since they were on the fly overs with “tourists not welcome” so point taken I don’t go

Ditto

 

[Tony50]

Wales is starved of money, we get hand outs. Population is small, we have lovely beaches, great countryside and gorgeous scenery. But Wales compared with other places is lagging behind. Why do people, who will spend £70-80,000 on a MH, then grumble over a few pennies of tourist tax, which is now almost everywhere.

I’m a tax paying pensioner, but don’t object to paying a tourist tax towards infrastructure that we use as tourists. I know before I go to Spain or France I will have to pay it. It is no surprise.

80% of the £20 Billion Wales budget comes from UK Central government in Westminster other 20% is made-up of Welsh taxes, if you think you are starved you should try living in some parts of East Anglia,ie north Suffolk and parts of Norfolk.

 

[nicholsong]

No they will not, this scheme only includes hotels initially. The hotels charge their guests and pay the money to the Council. The one P+R site at Trumpington is daytime parking only now. https://www.searchforsites.co.uk/markerMobile.php?id=27151

What about New Dover Road P+R which has had MH facilities for 10 years plus, to my knowledge and usage?

I estimate that there are far more visitors per day to Canterbury than the hotels can account for - just look at the numbers arriving on coaches.

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