Overnight visitors to Wales could pay ‘tourism tax’, Welsh government announcesMixed - Senedd TV, PA
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00:00The Bill provides a permissive power to local authorities to decide whether or not they want to introduce a visitor levy in their local areas based on their local circumstances.
00:13Doing so fulfills a commitment in Welsh Labour's manifesto, repeated in the programme for government and the co-operation agreement.
00:22The power is to be drawn down by participating councils where they wish to be enabled to raise a modest levy on visitors staying overnight in visitor accommodation.
00:35The levy is rooted in the principle of fairness. In participating local authorities, the costs of maintaining the public infrastructure and services that make Wales an attractive destination will be shared by all those who use them and who benefit from them.
00:54The considerable bulk of these costs will continue to be borne by local residents, but visitors will now also make a small but fair contribution to the development and preservation of the characteristics which drew them to those areas as visitors in the first place.
01:14In doing so, there will be a collective effort to secure the long-term sustainability of the tourism sector and its significance to the Welsh economy.