Bristol City Council could introduce a visitors tax: Will tourists still want to visit the city?

National World - LocalTV

Bristol City Council have stressed that the city needs to be innovative in ways to expand its income streams. The council has faced budget cuts each year, which the council say is not a position they want to be in.

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00:00I think that would be really ridiculous. I can't think of anywhere I've been in Europe

00:07that I've had to pay a tourist tax. I mean, I suppose you pay indirectly, don't you? So

00:11hotels impose a tourism tax and they do that in America and stuff as well. But what form

00:16would that take? Is it on every bill that you pay, every restaurant?

00:22Bristol Liberal Democrats have called for a tourism tax to be introduced in Bristol.

00:27During the latest full council meeting on February the 25th, where the forthcoming year's

00:33budget was debated, the group successfully amended the budget to fund a feasibility study

00:40on introducing a visitor charge. The new tax would allow Bristol's visitor economy to become

00:46more sustainable and improve the experience of people taking advantage of the city's rich

00:53cultural heritage. But what do locals think of this idea?

00:56I suppose they have to do it, experiment with it and see whether it puts people off or not.

01:03You know, I don't know if it happens in other cities.

01:06I think in general, any way for local government to raise revenue at the moment is a good thing

01:10and welcome it. Bristol's a great place to go and visit. And yes, it seems like a sensible

01:16way to try and raise some revenue to pay for public services.

01:19I think for economic growth, I mean, things are pretty tough as it is, aren't they really?

01:22Is it corporation tax, 25%? You know, VAT on everything, you know, tax, tax, tax.

01:29It seems a bit over the top, really.

01:33Legal mechanisms currently exist in England for local authority to impose a tourism tax

01:39and while some areas in England have introduced schemes led by their hotel sectors, a better

01:45way forward for Bristol could be for a scheme that incorporated short-term lets as well

01:52as hotels and ideally includes the whole of the city region.

01:56What do you think it would put people off coming to visit Bristol?

01:59I think people would spend less and, you know, you've got, what was it, ULEZ zones now and

02:05everything else. So, you know, you're making it hard from lots of different angles, aren't

02:08you really? So, what do you want to do? Overtax it and board the place up and, you know, you

02:14lose anyway. So, surely people spending money, lots of tourism, lots of activity, lots of

02:20culture, surely that's a much better tax than lexism.

02:23Do you think it will discourage people from coming to visit Bristol for a weekend?

02:28Might do, yeah. Yeah, it might do. We've got a lot of attractions in Bristol that they

02:34might be coming to anyway, but if they booked to come on a wedding party or something and

02:38then suddenly find they have to pay this, they might not be very pleased, you know.

02:42Do you think people would back it?

02:46I would imagine so. I think ultimately it is visitors rather than locals that pay for

02:51something like this. But I think if it's going back into better public services for Bristol

02:55then it seems like we ought to command some public support.

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