Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice and provided the text to Democratic Services Officer (details below) no later than midday on Monday, 1 December 2025, three working days before the day of the meeting. Each speaker should limit themselves to three minutes on any item.
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Minutes:
From Andrew Jenkins
Tourism Tax.
Was North Yorkshire Council consulted regarding the idea of creating a new tourism tax for North Yorkshire by the Major, if not, why not, and will tourism bodies such at the Filey Tourism and Trade Association on the front line be consulted regarding its implementation or not before any sort of local tax like this is implemented?
Businesses in Hospitality are already dealing with excessive rises in costs by government Tax, food and energy and wages and they cannot afford additional price rises at this time. The situation may be different in international tourist hot spots like York, but areas that rely on domestic tourism such as coastal areas are very different.
Response by Tony Watson, Head of Tourism
The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire has publicly supported gaining the powers to apply a visitor levy. In the recent Budget, the Chancellor confirmed that these powers will be made available to mayoral authorities and announced that a national consultation on the proposal is now open.
If the Mayor decides to implement a visitor levy, it will be introduced and administered as an initiative by the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA). North Yorkshire Council is now considering its position and will actively engage in both the national and regional consultations. We strongly encourage all interested groups and businesses to participate in these consultations and share their views.
We particularly encourage Filey TTA to respond with their expert local knowledge through the Mayor’s consultation via Policy Lab and through the national consultation process. In addition, Filey TTA is represented on the Visit North Yorkshire Advisory Group. The Visit North Yorkshire team is currently finalising plans for the next meeting, which will provide an opportunity for the Mayor and his team to hear feedback directly from stakeholders.
Mr Jenkins then gave the following response, which was passed to Head of Tourism for consideration
Some of that is very good to hear. I'm attending that tourism meeting group, so I will be participating in that. We've certainly had no indication and no inquiry from the mayor's office prior to these announcements being made, asking whether this would be a good idea in the first place.
I would also feedback to councillors that should such a thing be implemented, it needs to be very carefully constructed, so that the monies are not disappearing into a general pot. The monies raised in other areas of around the world, and I've travelled very extensively throughout Europe where tourist taxes are implemented, tends to be in the larger towns and cities, but even in smaller places the monies raised go back into the communities in which they are raised, not into a wider general pot.
For businesses, if this is introduced and we get into the nitty gritty of how something like this might be implemented, how that money is actually taken from the customer, how it is declared to the relevant body, where is the money?
Is it just those businesses that are accommodating people staying overnight or is it a wider tourism tax on restaurants and other businesses?