Tourism tax could be a 'good thing' for North Yorkshire

It's something Manchester has recently introduced

Author: Karen LiuPublished 8th Apr 2023

Leaders across North Yorkshire claim a tourism tax COULD be a good thing for the county.

It is something Manchester has introduced and means visitors staying overnight in the city will have to pay an extra one pound.

The extra cash raised would then be ploughed back into promoting local businesses.

Henri Murison is from The Northern Powerhouse Partnership and he said: "Across Europe, there are lots of tourism taxes and a lot more of them are more than a pound a night. What's really interesting is that whenever people have been stopped in the streets and asked about this idea, whether it's in the Lake District or Yorkshire, people have often said 'well, I pay that when I go abroad so I wouldn't think anything of it as long as it was being spent on something useful.

"I think the challenge is that if we don't compete then your'e in a race to the bottom where you haven't got enough customers to be able to sustain your business. I think my reflection would be whatever your business model, if you don't think the products you're selling is good enough to ask people for an extra pound so you put it to more people, then you need to question the quality of the product you're selling.

"There are busy times of year where every hotel is booked up but if you don't promote your destination effectively, then it's very hard to get the number of visitors particularly in the quieter months."