Andy Burnham should get tourist tax powers for Grater Manchester, MPs told

Mayors like Andy Burnham should be given the power to introduce a tourist tax, MPs have been told.

Zoë Billingham, the director of think tank IPPR North, has said that a visitor levy would help mayors invest in and lift up their areas. The Greater Manchester mayor has previously called for a tourist tax but the government did not include this in their devolution plans.

Hotels in Manchester city centre already charge a 'visitor charge'. However, the £1-a-night fee per room goes to the Accommodation Business Improvement District - which uses the money to boost the local tourism sector - rather than going into the mayor's coffers.

Giving evidence to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Ms Billingham argued for a visitor levy to be introduced. This small charge would be applied to visitor accommodation and is commonplace in many other European countries.

During her testimony, Ms Billingham pointed to international success stories, like Barcelona where revenues from taxes on tourism provide the third largest source of municipal income, bringing over €100 million into the city each year to be spent on improving infrastructure, public services and more. Billingham argued that this opportunity should be available to Mayors within England.

She told MPs that the visitor levy could open up opportunities for visitor levies in places like Cumbria, and York and North Yorkshire. The think tank boss described it as a 'quick win' for bringing spending power to regions to drive economic growth across the country.

She said: “In a country where an incredible 96p in every £1 is still raised by Whitehall – an internationally staggering figure - the government needs to apply its mantra of ‘devolution by default’ to new