Welsh visitor levy becomes law
Emily Price
Wales’ Visitor Levy Bill has become law after receiving Royal Assent from His Majesty The King.
The legislation gives Welsh councils the choice to introduce a charge on overnight stays, with all funds reinvested locally to support tourism.
The charge for overnight stays in hotels, B&Bs and self-catering accommodation will be £1.30 per person before VAT and a lower rate of 75p will apply to hostels and campsites.
Under 18s staying in shared accommodation will be exempt from charges.
Register
The Welsh Government says the policy could raise around £33 million a year if all of Wales’ 22 local authorities chose to implement it.
Councils will decide how money raised can be used for tourism-related expenses – such as improving toilets, footpaths, beaches, visitor centres and activities.
Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said: “The visitor levy represents a small contribution that will make a big difference by helping to maintain and enhance the very attractions that make Wales such a wonderful place to visit and live.
“This historic legislation gives Wales the same tools used so successfully by destinations all over the world to balance the benefits and pressures of tourism between visitors and residents.”
Controversial
The new law has proved controversial with some tourism chiefs who argue they have been faced with a flood of policy changes over the last two years and small businesses have become overwhelmed by the number of new regulations and costs.
Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Sam Rowlands MS said: “Labour and Plaid’s toxic Tourism Tax will harm our economy and risk hundreds of jobs.
“Welsh Conservatives voted against the tax at every stage and with the Senedd election next year, there is still an opportunity to end this attack on businesses and jobs.
“The Welsh Conservatives would axe the tax, before it comes into force in 2027.”
The Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) will collect and manage the levy for councils.
Register
The law will also create a national register for all visitor accommodation providers operating in Wales, which will be run by the WRA.
The Welsh Government says this will provide better data about tourism to help councils and communities make informed decisions about how properties are used in their areas
There is no cost to register and, from Autumn 2026, anyone charging visitors to stay overnight in Wales must sign-up.
But the earliest possible date a levy could be introduced by councils opting to do so would be 2027.
Rebecca Godfrey, interim chief executive of the Welsh Revenue Authority said: “We’re delighted to support local authorities with the collection of the levy and implement the new visitor accommodation register.
“Our proven track record managing Wales’ devolved taxes means we are well positioned to administer the register and levy efficiently.
“We’ll work with providers and the industry to help everyone prepare for autumn 2026.”We
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Bendigedig!
Now it’s a 22 horse race to see who’s first to transform their visitor economy into a world-beating community-led model of sustainability and economic opportunity.
You are a strange one; you are capable of sensible and intelligent remarks (like that below), yet you come out with cheap sarcasm like this comment. You know perfectly well that a tourist tax will, at best, help councils with a little extra income. Heaven knows they need all the help they can get after 14 years of the UK tories. The problem is that if they manage to shave a little bit off council tax rises, or fix a few more potholes, no-one will really notice, so the anti-tourist tax goons will try to say that it hasn’t worked.
I’m not being sarcastic. Just like the twenty rollout, each council will have a different story. Some will rise to the challenge, as Swansea and Gwynedd did with their twenty exemptions. Others will do little or nothing with the new powers. Some will be winners and transform their visitor economy, others will be losers and waste the opportunity. You can do a lot with a little, even just hiring a part time intern to do some clever internet marketing that gets likes and retweets from presidents and celebs which doubles overnight visitors in a single season, thus doubling the income… Read more »
Nonsense.
What is?
Have to say tourism is never sustainable.
Homework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_tourism
About time.
I just heard ARTD implode.
Right, now we’ve ticked that box, let’s sort out the Crown Estate and the HS2 con!
The real issues are the ongoing impacts of 15 years of austerity on public services and a lack of better paid jobs in tourist hot spots. Sadly all Morgan and Drakeford are doing is tinkering around the edges.
This policy provides a new funding stream for councils to use to develop their visitor economy to sustain more well paid permanent jobs in tourist hotspots. It can also release cash already being spent on the visitor economy to help fund other public services. So it’s literally helping the things you’re complaining about yet you’re still grumpy.
A good point, and the number of countries and cities around the world who have imposed a tourist tax is too long to list here, with no noticeable drop in tourist numbers.
Austerity was imposed by Westminster, and it is Westminster that hasn’t restored funding to pre-Austerity levels (plus more for inflation). There is nothing that Morgan and Drakeford can do to reverse that.
They could support Welsh independence
Good!
Now keep the public toilets open and drop parking charges!