Is a Tourist Tax a good or bad idea?

ON Wednesday, 10 September 2026, the UK's Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner met Regional Mayors, at:- Number 10 North, in Manchester, to outline central government proposals to grant local authorities and Regional Mayors discretionary powers to introduce visitor levies.

These proposals have been put forward by Central Government bodies, including:-:- HM Treasury and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, alongside devolved governments in Scotland and Wales.

Regional leaders and Mayors across England have long advocated for these powers to generate dedicated funding for managing high visitor volumes, but they have proven to be highly controversial.

The UK Government held a formal public consultation on an overnight visitor levy in England from:- 26 November 2025 to 18 February 2026, exploring scope, rate limits, and collection mechanisms. This followed a public consultation by the Welsh Government on discretionary visitor levies, and the passage of the:- Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024, which granted Scottish Councils legal powers to introduce:- Local Tourist Taxes.

Responding to the announcement that mayors in England are to be given the power to introduce an overnight visitor levy on tourists, Cllr Mick Barton, Chair of the Local Government Association's Culture, Tourism and Sport Committee, said:- "Local communities know best, and we are pleased that the Government has said it should be up to them to decide whether to implement this levy. While we recognise the strong concerns expressed about an overnight visitor levy by the hospitality sector, when designed locally, in consultation with residents and business, it could enable significant investment in the wider visitor economy. That's why it's vital that Councils retain a portion of the funding raised to support the services they provide which serve the visitor population. Where no strategic authority exists, councils should also be able to directly exercise the levy, with revenues retained locally to reinvest in the visitor economy. We are also clear that any additional revenue raised through this levy should not lead to reduced overall funding for the sector, as this would undermine its purpose and could have unintended consequences for local businesses."

Several Regions already operate visitor charges, primarily through accommodation levies or legal workarounds.

Manchester introduced the 1st UK scheme in 2023, using an:- 'Accommodation Business Improvement District' model to charge:- £1 per night on hotel stays. Liverpool followed in June 2025 with a:- £2 per night fee.

Internationally, European destinations including:- Venice, Barcelona and Amsterdam impose direct visitor fees or City taxes.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology is also already extensively used across British transport networks for schemes including:- the London Congestion Charge, Ultra Low Emission Zone and Clean Air Zones in Birmingham and Bristol.

Country Land and Business Association (CLA) President Gavin Lane said:- "A tourism levy sends entirely the wrong signal at a time when many rural businesses are already under significant financial pressure. Business taxes seem as incoherent as they have ever been. Increasing taxes via a visitor levy while at the same time reducing VAT on visitor attractions and business rates for pubs and clubs seems very poorly thought through and confusing. The profit warnings from:- Greggs and Wetherspoons demonstrate that UK retail and hospitality is grappling with significant cost pressures, including:- 20% VAT, business rates and rising labour costs. This is compounded in rural areas with poor transport links, weak digital connectivity and restrictive planning rules. Rather than introducing new costs for visitors and businesses, policymakers should focus on creating the conditions for this vital sector to thrive."

Why introduce a visitor levy?

Supporters of visitor charges include local Councils, Regional Mayors and resident groups in tourism hotspots.

They argue that a visitor levy could generate vital funding to maintain public infrastructure, improve public transport, upkeep public spaces and support cultural assets.

By distributing the financial responsibility more evenly between Local Council taxpayers and visitors, supporters say these schemes could provide more sustainable funding for communities experiencing heavy tourism pressure.

But establishing a visitor levy comes with financial and logistical considerations.

Standard accommodation levies require relatively little physical infrastructure because hotels and online booking platforms can collect the charge directly.

An ANPR system, by comparison, requires substantial capital expenditure. Hardware costs start at roughly £7,000 per camera lane, alongside ongoing expenditure for cloud software, back-office administration, database management and dispute resolution.
Could ANPR create more problems?

Replacing or supplementing a traditional accommodation Bed Tax with an ANPR road system could create significant logistical, operational and financial risks.

A vehicle-tracking mechanism across a tourist-heavy Region creates a grey area for gig economy workers, including:- Deliveroo and UberEats drivers, Evri couriers, taxi drivers and trade contractors who rely on private cars or vans.

Unless workers continuously complete administrative paperwork to verify their working status, automated systems risk identifying them as tourists and issuing automated bills.

Care workers visiting clients in private vehicles and night-shift workers travelling during non-standard hours could face the same problem.

Local authorities might attempt to protect essential workers through a whitelisting database, but maintaining such a system would bring its own administrative demands and costs.

Workers and local businesses could face repeated requirements to provide proof of work related travel, while commercial vehicle operators and coach drivers could also face additional costs which may ultimately be passed on to clients.

What about ordinary local journeys?

Automated vehicle tracking could also affect people making routine journeys through tourist areas, including:- those visiting friends or relatives.

Drivers who become lost or are directed along official road diversions crossing into neighbouring tourist zones could risk receiving automated charges.

ANPR-based tax enforcement would also raise questions about surveillance and data privacy.

Expanding vehicle-tracking networks would mean capturing location data, timestamps and movement patterns for large numbers of journeys unrelated to tourism.

Civil liberties organisations and regulatory bodies, including:- the Information Commissioner Office, have highlighted concerns surrounding scope creep, data retention policies and compliance with UK General Data Protection Regulations.

Monitoring daily movements could create privacy risks if sensitive location data is stored and processed without explicit individual consent. Using traffic-management cameras for local taxation could also mean regular commuters and residents are monitored simply while travelling from 1 local authority area to another.

A Bed Tax brings different concerns...

A standard overnight Bed Tax avoids some of the complexities associated with tracking vehicles, but it comes with its own potential disadvantages.

Increasing the cost of overnight visits could put additional financial pressure on the night time economy, including:- theatres, pubs, live music venues and clubs.

There are also concerns about how a levy could affect homeless people and other vulnerable groups.

Local authorities across the UK rely heavily on commercial hotels, guest houses and bed and breakfast accommodation to fulfil statutory emergency housing duties under homelessness legislation.

An unexempt flat rate levy could increase the daily cost of temporary shelter.

Vulnerable people paying directly for short term hotel stays from limited personal funds could face additional costs, while Councils placing families in temporary rooms could see their accommodation bills increase.

Without explicit national statutory exemptions for emergency housing placements, a levy intended for tourism could therefore affect people facing severe housing crises.

What happens when local residents need a hotel?

Local people can also find themselves staying in hotels through necessity rather than choice.

Burst water pipes, house fires, structural damage, flooding or major renovations can force households into local hotel accommodation for anything from 1 night to several weeks.

Under an unrefined overnight charge, residents could find themselves paying a daily tourist levy while staying in emergency accommodation in their own town.

Insurance companies covering temporary re-housing could also face increased claim costs, which could ultimately contribute to higher home insurance premiums.

Without clear exemption mechanisms and proof of:- residency procedures, local residents could therefore face additional costs during an already difficult situation.

It isn't all negative, there could be benefits...

Using ANPR for tourist tax enforcement could give local Councils an opportunity to generate additional revenue while also providing information about Regional movement patterns.

Vehicle registration data could help highways departments map visitor routes, identify:- peak congestion periods and analyse seasonal traffic flows.

Transport planners could potentially use this information to target infrastructure improvements, optimise traffic signal timings, refine public transport schedules and develop better contingency plans for major events or road closures.

An overnight Bed Tax could achieve the same revenue raising objective while being substantially more cost effective than an ANPR network.

Because accommodation charges can be integrated into existing hotel, guest house and digital reservation systems, administrative and physical setup costs would remain relatively low.

This could allow 100% of net proceeds to be reinvested into public services rather than being absorbed by ongoing camera maintenance, database hosting and back office appeals.

A Bed Tax would also target overnight visitors using local amenities while automatically protecting local residents, day commuters, taxi drivers and delivery workers from automated bills.

Where does the money go?

Visitor charges are already generating funds in major British cities.

In Manchester, where an accommodation levy was introduced in April 2023, the scheme generated more than £10.5 million in its first 3 years.

The money has been reinvested into enhanced City Centre street cleansing, international destination marketing and securing high-profile national events such as the BRIT Awards and MOBO Awards.

Liverpool established a similar charge in June 2025, raising millions to fund major conferences estimated to generate £87 million in local economic impact.

Across Scotland, local authorities implementing 5% visitor levies under the Visitor Levy Act 2024 are directing revenue towards public transport upgrades, historic site preservation, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and public park maintenance.

What about camping?

Questions are also being raised about how visitor charges could affect camping.

Introducing an overnight Bed Tax on official campsites, caravan parks and motorhome pitches risks worsening existing problems with informal, unauthorised wild camping and roadside parking.

In high-density tourism Regions such as the Scottish Highlands, Lake District and coastal national parks, irresponsible fly camping already causes environmental damage, including:- abandoned rubbish, human waste, habitat destruction and illegal campfires which can trigger dangerous wildfires.

Industry groups and hospitality representatives, including:- the Scottish Bed and Breakfast Association during Holyrood Legislative Scrutiny on:- 24 October 2023, warned that additional fees; even relatively small levies of:- 75p to £2 per night, or:- £5 on pitch costs; can influence visitor behaviour.

For price-sensitive tourists and motorhome drivers, additional costs could provide an incentive to avoid commercial sites altogether.

Off-grid roadside parking and wild camping attract:- £0 in taxes, meaning an accommodation levy could potentially penalise law-abiding tourists while encouraging more travellers towards:- unmanaged public spaces without basic toilet or wast -disposal facilities.

Could the levy help tackle wild camping instead?

There is another side to the argument, as a structured visitor levy could give local authorities additional money to manage the negative effects of informal camping.

Under legislative frameworks including:- the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 and English devolved proposals, money raised from overnight stays must be ring-fenced and reinvested into local services used by tourists.

Councils could use this revenue for environmental protection, including:- additional countryside wardens and park rangers to:- patrol high risk areas, enforce local byelaws and tackle illegal campfires.

Revenue could also fund extra:- public litter bins, 24 hour toilet facilities, chemical waste disposal stations for campervans and dedicated low-cost overnight parking stops.

By investing levy proceeds in infrastructure and enforcement, local authorities could tackle environmental damage without relying solely on stretched municipal budgets.

Could ANPR capture visitors a Bed Tax misses?

Using ANPR road networks to target leisure vehicles offers another potential advantage; but also significant drawbacks.

Camera systems could capture:- touring motorhomes, campervans and day tripping caravans which bypass commercial accommodation altogether.

Monitoring key roads into national parks, coastal towns and scenic countryside areas could allow local authorities to collect revenue from visitors who use:- municipal roads, waste facilities and parking bays without paying an accommodation levy.

However, camera enforcement could also result in stressful and potentially costly bills for leisure vehicle owners who enter restricted tourist zones because of official road diversions or while visiting friends and family.

This could leave motorists facing complicated disputes to prove their journey was not tourism-related.

ANPR charges could potentially discourage overnight camping in areas not covered by a Bed Tax and deter some people from free camping.

However, such a system would still not capture visitors who enter an area on foot or by public transport and stay overnight.

So, is a visitor levy a good idea?

Visitor levies offer the potential to generate significant additional funding for areas dealing with the pressures of tourism.

But exactly how those charges are collected could make a substantial difference to:- residents, workers, businesses and visitors.

A Bed Tax may be simpler and cheaper to administer, but raises questions about:- accommodation costs, vulnerable people, emergency stays and camping.

ANPR could potentially capture a wider range of visitors and provide valuable transport data, but comes with substantial costs, administrative challenges and privacy concerns.

What are your thoughts? Would you support a visitor levy in your area; and if so, how do you think it should work? Please let us know by emailing our Newsroom at:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com or send us a message on:- Mastodon, Facebook, or X. .