THE leader of Lichfield District Council has vowed to fight proposals for a new tourist tax.
The Government has drawn up plans to give local leaders the power to implement an overnight visitor levy on hotels and other accommodation.
But Cllr Doug Pullen, Conservative leader of the district council, said the move could risk damaging the visitor economy.
He said:
"Hospitality businesses have already absorbed one cost increase after another, and now the Government wants to create yet another new tax which will ultimately hit the very businesses we should be helping to grow.
"There are only two places this cost can go. Businesses either pass it on to their customers through higher prices – making a weekend away or a family break more expensive and potentially reducing visitor numbers – or they swallow the cost themselves.
"For many businesses, after everything else they have faced, swallowing another cost simply isn’t realistic."
Cllr Pullen said that along with an "increasingly strong" food and drink offering, attractions such as Drayton Manor Park, Lichfield Cathedral and Chasewater were helping to drive the local economy.
The council's tourism figures show that the visitor economy was worth more than £157million a year before the pandemic and supported thousands of jobs.
Cllr Pullen continued:
"We should be ambitious about making Lichfield district one of the Midlands’ leading visitor destinations.
"We have Drayton Manor, our magnificent Cathedral, Chasewater, beautiful countryside, heritage attractions, excellent restaurants and a hospitality sector which is getting stronger.
"The last thing those businesses need is government creating another way of taxing their customers.
"The hospitality industry is already warning about the potential consequences. UKHospitality has suggested that a levy equivalent to 5% could put tens of thousands of jobs at risk nationally.
"Crucially, these proposals appear to give local areas a choice over whether to impose the surcharge. I will be making the strongest possible case that, wherever that decision ultimately sits in Staffordshire, we should proactively decline to introduce it.
"We should be competing for visitors, not taxing them for choosing to come here.
"My approach is very simple – keep taxes low, keep Lichfield District competitive and let our tourism and hospitality businesses flourish."
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