Andy Burnham has said introducing a “proper” tourist tax in Manchester is only fair after countries including Spain and France began charging foreign visitors extra to visit their towns and cities.
Overnight visitors in Manchester currently pay a £1 visitor charge per night and hotel room for accommodation in the city’s Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID).
The scheme, implemented by Manchester’s ABID in April 2023, raised £2.8m towards the district’s work to promote the city as a tourist hotspot in its first year, but Mr Burnham, Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester, said more should be done to take advantage of the region’s growing popularity at home and abroad.
While the UK Government has not given local authorities the powers to charge taxes on holidaying tourists in England, the Scottish Government gave hotels and B&Bs the go-ahead to charge levies on overnight stays last year.
Mr Burnham said he was putting pressure on Westminster to follow suit and force visitors to contribute to local finances – suggesting that it is only fair the UK imposes equal “tourist tax” measures to those implemented in other parts of the world.
“We would like it to be a proper levy,” the mayor told BBC Radio Manchester on Thursday, February 20. “I am putting the case to the Government for a tourist levy. Edinburgh has brought one in. I think Glasgow have voted to bring one in. Wales are looking at it as well.”
“In an era where we are struggling to raise funds from the public here, it feels right to me [when there is] the levy British tourists pay in France, Germany and Italy… Why should people from there not pay one?” he added.
While countries including Spain, France, Germany and Italy have imposed levies on visitors for years, with revenues going towards local infrastructure, services and the tourism industry, the concept of “tourist tax” in the UK is a relatively new one.
Edinburgh is set to introduce a 5% levy on overnight stays in 2026, generating an estimated £50 million towards city improvements, while Glasgow and Wales are considering similar measures.
Manchester ABID chair Kumar Mishra said the visitor charge scheme had produced “brilliant successes” in its first 12 months and helped to fund a range of cultural events in the city including a new music conference, flower festival and pride and Chinese New Year celebrations.
Mr Burnham’s comments come just weeks after plans were unveiled to make Greater Manchester the UK’s go-to tourist destination outside London by 2030, with ambitions to grow its visitor economy from £10bn in 2024 to £15bn by the end of the decade.
The region is currently lagging behind Edinburgh and London in third place for the most popular tourist cities in the UK.
A strategy to further boost footfall and pull in front of the Scottish capital will include paying all workers in the visitor economy a minimum of the Real Living Wage and ensuring that 30% of passengers at Manchester Airport are of international origin.
