Press Story

The director of leading think tank IPPR North has today called for Mayors to be given the power to bring in a visitor levy for their area.

Giving evidence to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Zoë Billingham explained that a visitor levy – a small charge applied to visitors accommodation, something commonplace in many other European countries - could increase Mayors’ powers to invest in, and lift up, their area.

During her testimony, Zoë Billingham pointed to international success stories, like Barcelona where revenues from taxes on tourism provide the third largest source of municipal income – bringing over €100 million into the city each year to be spent on improving infrastructure, public services and more.

Billingham argued that this opportunity should be available to Mayors within England – which could open up opportunities for visitor levies in places like Cumbria, and York and North Yorkshire. She describes the levy as a “quick win” for bringing spending power to regions to drive national growth, and argues that it should be “phase one of fiscal devolution”, to truly deliver the government’s promised ‘devolution by default’.

Zoë Billingham, Director of IPPR North said:

“In a country where an incredible 96p in every £1 is still raised by Whitehall – an internationally staggering figure - the government needs to apply its mantra of ‘devolution by default’ to new areas. From next year, councils in Scotland will have the ability to introduce visitor levies and Mayors in England should have the same power.

“Moving power from Whitehall to Town Halls is a route to powering up regions to deliver better living standards, a stronger democracy and growth across the country. The government have shown that they’re taking devolution seriously, with their promise of devolution by default. As devolution matures, this should involve fiscal devolution – and a visitor levy is a clear candidate for a quick win in phase one”.

ENDS

Contact: Rosie Lockwood, head of media and advocacy for IPPR North, on 07585772633 or r.lockwood@ippr.org.

Notes:

Zoë Billingham, Director of IPPR North is available for interview.

IPPR North is the leading think-tank for the north of England, developing bold ideas for a stronger economy and prosperous places and people. For more information, visit ippr.org/north.

In the UK, the Scottish Government introduced powers for Scottish local authorities to bring forward visitor levies and the Welsh government are looking to introduce one nationwide. Within England, Business Improvement Districts have been used to introduce a form of visitor levy places including Liverpool and Manchester.

Source on Barcelona’s tourist tax revenue: https://www.barcelona.cat/infobarcelona/en/tema/tourism/greater-return-for-the-city-from-the-tourist-tax_1448015.html