Shadow Minister for North Wales and Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has highlighted the dangers of introducing a tourism tax in North Wales with the Welsh Economy Minister and asked him what assessment the Welsh Government has made of the impact it will have on the region.  

Last week, the Welsh Government announced it will hold a consultation on proposals for a visitor levy in autumn 2022. If implemented, the tax could see visitors charged an additional fee to stay overnight in Wales.

The levy was proposed in the last Senedd but due to widespread anger in the industry and Welsh Conservative opposition, the proposals were dropped.

Darren has been against the proposals since they were first put forward and challenging the Economy Minister over them in the Senedd Chamber yesterday, he again highlighted the devastating impact a tourism tax would have on the north Wales economy.

He said:

“I know you want to pass the buck to local authorities in respect of this tax, but the reality is that it's your Welsh Labour Government that is setting the road ahead and actually facilitating the introduction of a tax that could decimate the economy of North Wales.

“Tourism is worth billions to Wales, and tens of thousands of people across the North Wales region are employed in tourism jobs and, in addition, many shops in our town centres, businesses like cafes, restaurants, and everything else survive on the annual income that comes from visitors' pockets.

“Do you accept that a tourism tax being introduced in north Wales could decimate the industry and cause price-sensitive tourists to, instead of visiting Colwyn Bay, Towyn and Kinmel Bay, Rhyl, Prestatyn, Llandudno and the other wonderful resorts that north Wales has to offer, that it could cause them to hop, skip and jump to places like Blackpool, Morecambe and elsewhere, where their economies will boom and ours will suffer as a result?”

In his response, the Minister said “The idea that this will decimate the visitor economy is without any kind of evidential basis whatsoever.”

Darren added:

“The Minister’s dismissive response shows how out of touch he is with North Wales. We are a region that depends heavily on tourism. There is no doubt that making it more expensive for tourists to come here, will push them to go elsewhere. We don’t need consultations to tell us that.”