Popular Cornwall holiday destination St Ives is considering introducing a “tourist tax”.
Mayor of St Ives Johnnie Wells says they are talking to holiday companies about introducing a voluntary levy on visitors as a compulsory charge would require a law change. The government said it kept the tax system under review, but it had no plans for a tourism tax in England.
Speaking to BBC News, Mr Wells said: “We are only 11,500 people, and we only get the money for those people.
“And yet, during the summer, we’re providing facilities for hundreds of thousands of visitors when every budget we have is being reduced.
“It makes it very difficult as a council to make ends meet.”
He said it was proving “harder and harder” for the small town to maintain facilities for 540,000 day visitors and 220,000 staying visitors every year. And that a tourism tax would “bring massive benefit to the town”.
“We need to figure out a way of making people feel like they are contributing to St Ives by paying a bit of extra money towards the town, to get them around and provide them with recycling facilities and nice beaches and a better experience,” he said.
The scheme would see St Ives follow Manchester, the first UK city to launch a visitor charge. It would mean people visiting the Cornish destination would face paying an additional £1 per night for their accommodation.
