5. Statement by the Minister for Finance and Local Government: Visitor Levy Consultation

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:52 pm on 20 September 2022.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 4:52, 20 September 2022

So, I will address that point where the Member asked about the difference between a tourism tax and a visitor levy and why the language around that changed, because I do think that’s an important question. The reason that we moved away from the word 'tourism' to 'visitor' was because a tourism levy or a tourism tax didn’t fully capture everybody who would be undertaking an overnight stay in Wales. It would be our intention for business travellers, for example, to also pay the overnight levy, because they have a similar impact on the local environment, but also because you can’t always distinguish exactly between somebody’s business and a tourism visit, because often, of course, people on business trips undertake some leisure and tourism while they’re here and we want to continue to encourage that. So, that’s the reason why—because we wanted the visitor levy to encapsulate all of those who would be undertaking overnight stays apart from those exemptions that I've just given some examples of, of course. So, I hope that clarifies why we moved away from the wording 'tourism tax' to a 'visitor levy'.

In terms of the funds going back into local services and to being reinvested in those things that make tourism a success, I think that we’ve been amply clear, working with Plaid Cymru on this, to demonstrate, through the consultation document, which has been launched today, and through everything that we’ve been saying about the levy, that this is very much about investing in the things that make tourism successful—investing in local infrastructure, protecting local amenities and so on. We’re very clear on that. We’ve done lots and lots of good work with Plaid Cymru. You’ll be hearing a statement later on today on free school meals, in terms of our support for that. So, I think that these are two really clear examples of where the co-operation agreement is absolutely working very well. It’s working really collaboratively, and it’s absolutely going to be delivering for people in Wales.

I do want to say that of course the consultation is a genuine consultation and we want to hear all of the views. What we want are practical responses to the practical suggestions that we’ve made within the consultation document. I look forward to hearing as many views as possible and look forward to considering all of them. Similarly, I look forward to having the round-table discussions that we'll be having—the first one, as I mentioned earlier, with Cefin Campbell up in Portmeirion on Friday.