Written Statement: Legislating to support tourism in Wales

In July’s legislative statement, the First Minister announced two Bills to support tourism and local communities. One Bill will give local authorities the power to introduce a visitor levy and the other will regulate visitor accommodation. 

Today we are updating Members about these Bills. 

Subject to the Llywydd's determination, the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill will be introduced to the Senedd on 25 November. 

This Bill proposes giving local authorities the power to introduce a visitor levy, which will be a small charge paid by people staying overnight in visitor accommodation. The levy will raise additional funds for local authorities to support the long-term sustainability of our tourism industry. Each local authority will be able to decide whether to introduce a visitor levy in its area, based on local circumstances. 

One of the Welsh Government’s tax principles is that our taxes should be developed through collaboration and involvement. Through consultation, continued engagement and the discovery work led by the Welsh Revenue Authority, we have received consistent feedback that we need a form of registration in place to support the levy. This has informed our decision to include a national register of all those providing visitor accommodation in Wales within the Bill. 

We have previously consulted on a statutory licensing scheme for visitor accommodation in Wales as a means of helping to establish a level playing field and to ensure visitors have confidence in the high-standards available throughout Wales. The registration scheme proposed in the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Bill is the first step towards that scheme.

We will be bringing forward the second Bill to move us towards a statutory licensing scheme and enable visitor accommodation providers to demonstrate how their accommodation meets certain conditions. We will continue to discuss and engage with tourism stakeholders, accommodation providers and local authorities as we progress these proposals.