The Welsh Government (WG) are working on proposals to change legislation that will give Local Authorities in Wales discretionary powers to introduce a visitor levy.

They are currently running an Open Consultation on the proposals and we urge all members to take a few moments to read what is being proposed, and to submit your own response directly to the Welsh Government (WG), proposals here .

Responses to this consultation will be used by the Welsh Government to inform:

• the shape of the proposals going forward
• the scope of the enhanced discretionary powers for Local Authorities
• how the visitor levy will be administered
• how any additional revenue generated will be allocated

Note - you should submit your own business response to this important consultation by 13th December.

MWT Response

MWT Directors and staff have been working closely with trade bodies across Wales on this issue and much time and effort has already gone into the pre-consultation phase.

We have of course made our views known to the WG that the timing of this proposed change, from a tourism business perspective, couldn't be worse and of course we will be submitting a full written response to the consultation.

At our last MWT virtual member's meeting on 25th October, we had an open and interesting discussion with members about this important topic..

Some of the questions raised / observations made about the proposed visitor levy were- 

• "We need to flag up that the vast majority of tourists are day trippers, how would they be taxed?"

• Their licensing scheme isn't in place yet; how can they identify who to tax if they have no idea who/what size accommodation providers are?"

• "I'm concerned about Local Authority discretionary powers - it should be the same across Wales."

• "I'm concerned that tax collected will not be invested back into tourism."

To ensure we're representing your collective views, we have put together a short survey to evidence our response to the Welsh Government consultation.

Please complete this by no later than Friday 18th November.

All members, please take 5-10 minutes to complete this survey. 

If you would like to discuss the issues of the visitor levy, contact Val at MWT on 01654 702653.

We strongly encourage you to complete the Welsh Government's Open Consultation directly. Ensure your voice is counted and heard. Submit your comments by 13 December 2022.

If you haven't already, please make sure you join us on our MWT Cymru Facebook Members Group. This is the fastest way to receive updates as they happen.