A Tourism Levy

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:09 pm on 2 February 2022.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 2:09, 2 February 2022

I think the beginning of the question there was set on a premise that the evidence just doesn't support. So, there's no evidence to support that tourism levies are a major barrier to tourism. Why would most of northern Europe be having tourism levies if they were such a detriment? Why would some of the biggest tourist hotspots in the world be having tourism levies if they were not successful in terms of maintaining sustainable tourism in those areas?

So, the very detailed question you ask is, quite rightly, one that will follow from the consultation. So, there's a lot that is yet to be determined in terms of precisely what will happen to the funding that is raised and precisely which types of accommodation are in scope and so on. So, at the moment, we're setting out our broad plans, and the consultation will be an opportunity to drill down a bit deeper into how we design a potential levy in future. So, there will be plenty of opportunities for colleagues across the Senedd to engage with the consultation process, as there will be for tourism businesses in all of the communities that you referred to.