Regarding Tristram Hunt’s suggestion (Opinion, February 15) that the UK introduce a hotel tax to defray the costs of running our museums, in European cities where a modest daily tax has been imposed I would just add there is no evidence of a material decline in visitor numbers, as some hoteliers like to claim.
The issue is not the levy itself, it is who gets to spend it and how it gets spent. An English mayor announcing a local infrastructure improvement programme funded by a local visitor tax is much more likely to get support from hoteliers and local residents. Therefore the key is to announce the benefit alongside how you plan to fund it.
If the Treasury is tempted to introduce a hotel tax thinking it is an “Airport Departure Tax #2” (one of Britain’s most efficient tax raising programmes) people would fight it.
A hotel tax needs to be hypothecated. If central government then gives a clear-thinking mayor the chance to prove the point, to the benefit of the local community, the rest will follow.
Christopher Rodrigues
Chair, Visit Britain 2007-17
Longborough, Gloucestershire, UK