A leading York councillor has put her weight behind the idea of introducing a tourist tax in York.
The idea of imposing such a levy is now being floated in City of York Council’s budget proposals.
At present, the council doesn’t have the powers to bring in such a tax, but residents are being asked for their views on the idea.
A tourist tax would see visitors paying a fee when staying overnight in York, to generate income for the city.
Councillor Katie Lomas, executive member for finance, told YorkMix that the administration is looking to increase income in their budget consultation, rather than cutting services.
And that’s where a visitor levy could come in.
There’s no law in England to enable a mandatory tax, but it is possible to have a voluntary one.
Other city councils, like Manchester and Liverpool, have introduced a volunteer visitor levy through a legal workaround.
Of the nine million visitors to York in 2023, 1.7 million stayed overnight. Cllr Lomas explained the idea behind imposing a tourist tax on those staying in York.
“Really, what it would be is us asking those people who come and visit our amazing city to make a contribution towards all of the things that the council funds.
“We want to be able to provide a brilliant city centre for visitors to enjoy, a brilliant public realm. We want to be able to provide all the services that they need when they visit.”
That is not possible as things stand, she added. “Council income has fallen year on year for the last 14 years.
“And with York being one of the lowest funded councils in the country, we don’t have the resources to be able to do that unless we can get some extra income.”
Ms Lomas said she believed that residents would back the idea. “They see that tourism is really important in York, but it also comes with a cost, and they’d like the tourists who come and visit our city to pay their share as well.”
She is currently in talks with York’s hospitality industry to explore what options the city has, while lobbying the government to introduce legislation.
“There are lots of different models and we are exploring different options for it,” Cllr Lomas added.
“At the moment, we don’t have any firm plans as the legislation doesn’t exist to enable us to have a mandatory charge per night in hotels and other accommodation like you might pay when you go on holiday.
“That doesn’t exist in England at the moment. It exists in Scotland, and some areas in Scotland are doing that really successfully.”
The sort of voluntary tourist levy up and running in places like Manchester wouldn’t work in York, Cllr Lomas believes.
She believes it would prove too tricky to organise and deliver as a successful scheme, so she will continue to push for legislation.
“I think what we’ve seen in Liverpool and Manchester is that they’re not performing in the way that they expected to. They’re not getting as much income as they expected to get through it because it’s because it’s voluntary,” she said.
What do you think about the introduction of a tourist tax for the city? Let us know at [email protected].