I recall paying tourist taxes abroad decades ago. As someone said earlier, it's' quite common in many European cities, and it's becoming more common to the UK too.
Tax is a bit of a dirty word, so I would rather see such charges presented in a more positive light. Such as a visitors charge, or a sustainability charge or a green levy or a Future Blackpool charge. But you get the idea hopefully. It needs to be a positively marketed charge so as not to dissuade potential visitors.
Blackpool does indeed benefit in various ways from tourism. So in effect, we are getting money already from tourists. But sadly, that money isn't really enough, because as we know Blackpool has a plethora of issues. Many of which are a direct result of it primarily being a tourism town.
A visitors charge could be a great opportunity to further improve the town, and the prospects of the residents.
There's so many things the money could be used for. E.g roads, waste collection, cleaning the beaches, subsidised housing, employment training, carbon reduction towards net zero, etc etc.
So I wouldn't immediately dismiss the idea.
One has to consider whether such a charge would be fair. We have many visitor that come along, drop litter, use the public services, the roads, and generate cost for additional police and bin emptying amongst other things. We have the illuminations for which many merely drive through without paying a penny. So I'd say it would be fair enough to have such a charge. There's many precedents out there which show they can be introduced effectively and successfully.
One of the challenges would be how to levy and administer it. But with technology this should be quite easily done. One way could be to add a small charge to a hotel and B&B rooms e.g. £1 a night per person. But there could be various other ways.
I do feel that the levy would need to be governed carefully so that the money was ring-fenced and not merely subsumed into the councils coffers to be used in any which way. As with the National Lottery it would be a positive story to show how the money had been used to improve the area.
I'd welcome a group to be established to include citizens, the council, business leaders, charities and others to decide on how the money would be spent. Locals and local business folk could submit ideas for consideration, prioritisation and approval.
In summary, I'd be all for such a charge if it was marketed positively, and if the funds raised were used for local people for local initiatives.
now how many people are there in that car & is that a dog hiding in the floor well?
