Anglesey County Council has abandoned a proposed overnight visitor levy following intense pushback from the local community and tourism sector. This decision serves as a cautionary tale for the UK Labour government as it considers granting similar tax powers to regional mayors in England.
The £1.30 levy that failed the 83% business test
The proposed tax in Anglesey would have charged hotel guests £1.30 per person per night, while those staying in shared accommodations like campsites would have paid 75p. According to the report, the plan was met with fierce resistance, with 83 per cent of responding businesses and 84 per cent of visitors opposing the charge. Even among local residents, a majority of 58 per cent were against the measure.
The data suggests the tax would have actively deterred tourism, with over 60 per cent of polled holidaymakers stating they would shorten their stay if the levy were implemented. Furthermore, two-thirds of those surveyed indicated they would consider choosing a different destination entirely, prompting the Anglesey County Council executive to scrap the plan to avoid economic instability.
Protecting a £360 million tourism engine
The decision to reject the tax reflects the critical role tourism plays in the local economy, which generates £360 million annually for Anglesey. As reported, approximately one in five jobs on the island are supported by the tourism sector, making any potential dip in visitor numbers a significant risk to employment and local livelihoods.
The TaxPayers' Alliance provided a stark projection of the potentail fallout, estimating that the levy could have driven away 45,000 tourists. This decline in visitors would have resulted in an estimated £14 million in lost spending, a figure that far outweighed the projected revenue gains from the tax. This pattern of prioritizing volume over per-head levies is a recurring theme in regional tourism disputes across the UK.
Andy Burnham's uncapped percentage model vs. the flat fee
The reversal in Anglesey arrives as Andy Burnham seeks to empower English regional mayors to impose overnight visitor levies on hotels, B&Bs, and holiday lets. Unlike the flat fee attempted in Anglesey, the proposed English model would be a percentage of the total accommodation charge. Labour-run areas are expected to set this rate at 5 per cent, and notably, the tax would not be capped.
Business groups have reacted sharply to this proposal, with Allen Simpson, CEO of UK Hospitality, arguing that such taxes are deeply unpopular during a cost-of-living crisis.. According to the report, business groups warn that these English levies could cost holidaymakers an estimated £1.6 billion by the end of the decade and put tens of thousands of hospitality jobs at risk.
Will Gwynedd and Cardiff follow Anglesey's lead?
While Anglesey has retreated, the status of other Welsh regions remains uncertain. the Cardiff government previously backed its own visitor levy of up to £1.30 per night for 2025, and Gwynedd concil—which oversees high-traffic areas like Snowdonia—is currently facing similar local opposition to tourist taxes.
It remains unclear whether the minority Plaid Cymru administration in Wales will pressure other local authorities to reconsider their levies in light of the Anglesey results. Additionally, the report does not specify if the UK Labour government intends to modify Andy Burnham's proposed percentage-based model to include a cap or a flat-fee alternative to mitigate the backlash seen in Wales.
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