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Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Oxford plots £2-a-night 'tourist tax' for overnight visitors staying in a hotel or college room
Oxford is plotting a £2-a-night tax on overnight visitors staying in a hotel or college room in a bid to swell council coffers. Guests would be charged for each night they spend in the historic city under new plans that officials estimate could raise £2.5 million every year in tax receipts. Funds racked up by the levy would go towards 'improving' Oxford for both residents and tourists, councilors at a scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday heard. Self-catering accommodation and AirBnbs would be exempt from collecting the tax as they are not included in the business rate database, the Telegraph reports. Diana Fawcett, Oxford council's city centre manager, said: 'It's not really just about our tourists – it's about anybody who uses the city. 'So whether you live here, whether you work here, whether you're a student here, as well as a tourist, we want to improve that experience.' Council bosses calculate that the ancient university city received 32 million visitors last year, fuelling 40,000 jobs. By introducing a 'tourist tax', Oxford would be following in the footsteps of Manchester, which has implemented an accommodation business improvement district charge of £1 a night. Liverpool, meanwhile, levies a similar tax of £2 a night. Oxford City Council has been approached for comment. It's the latest in a string of controversial policy ideas mooted in the area, following hot on the heels of proposals to impose a congestion charge - in the local authority's latest move in the 'war on motorists'. Such a levy would be the first of its kind intoduced in Britain for more than two decades. Under the proposed 'temporary' scheme, motorists would be slapped with a £5 fee every time they travel into the city centre. Locals have warned that the plans would cripple businesses in Oxford, which have already been hit by a controversial low traffic neighbourhood scheme in the city. If enforced, Oxford would be just the third city in the UK to introduce a congestion charge - after London and Durham in the early 2000s. The plans were proposed by Oxfordshire County Council in June and could be introduced as early as this autumn. The scheme would be enforced using automatic number plate recognition - with charging cameras placed on six major roads that lead into the city centre. Oxford residents with a permit would be exempt from the £5 charge but anyone travelling into the city for work, tourism or shopping would have to pay. Oxford City Council, a separate local authority, has also criticised the scheme. Council leader Susan Brown said she was concerned that the scheme would allow wealthier people 'to buy access to our streets'. Oxford, which has a historic centre made up of a number of narrow medieval streets, has previously been named one of the most congested cities in the UK.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Oxford plots ‘tourist tax' on visitors
Oxford city council is planning to introduce a £2-a-night 'tourist tax' for overnight visitors. Guests visiting the ancient university city would have to pay the charge if they stay in a hotel or college room. Officials claimed that the surcharge could generate £2.5 million a year in tax receipts. It is not the first UK city to be considering a tourist tax. Cambridge mulled a £2 nightly surcharge last year before it was forced to abandon the plans following a backlash from hoteliers. Elsewhere, an accommodation business improvement district (ABID) charge is set at £1 a night in Manchester and £2 a night in Liverpool. At a scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday, councillors heard the tax would be used to 'improve' the city for locals and tourists. AirBnB and self-catering accommodation, which fall outside of the business rate database used under BID legislation, would not have to collect the levy. Diana Fawcett, Oxford council's city centre manager, said: 'It's not really just about our tourists, it's about anybody who uses the city. So whether you live here, whether you work here, whether you're a student here, as well as a tourist, we want to improve that experience.' The council estimates that 32 million people visited the city last year, supporting 40,000 jobs. The proposals follow a series of other controversial revenue-generating policies proposed for the city in recent years. Oxfordshire county council wants it to become the first in Britain to introduce a congestion charge in two decades under plans for a £5 daily charge to access parts of its historic centre. 'Chronic gridlock' Low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in the east of the city have also been made permanent despite a report finding they caused 'chronic gridlock' and 'exasperatingly slow' bus journeys. The council also plans to introduce controversial climate zones, which will ban residents from travelling directly between suburbs at peak times next year. Six traffic filters, described as 'bus gates', will close off arterial roads to cars in an attempt to relieve congestion and promote cycling in a trial that has been postponed by overrunning roadworks near the railway station. Local drivers will be given 100-day annual permits to cross the boundaries – or 25-day permits if they live outside the city – and fined £70 on other days if they do not take a detour onto the ring road. There is also a zero emission zone (ZEZ) in place in the city centre, which charges drivers for using non-compliant vehicles.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Oxford's overnight visitors could face 'tourist tax'
A new levy on overnight stays is being considered for visitors to City Council is exploring the idea of introducing an Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID) which would add a surcharge – sometimes referred to as a "tourist tax" – to hotel and college room is estimated the scheme could generate £2.5m a year which would be reinvested in the local tourist a meeting of the council's scrutiny committee on Tuesday, members discussed the potential impact of the plan. More than 32 million people visited the city last year, according to council figures, with tourism supporting about 40,000 jobs.A £2 nightly charge on overnight stays in hotels and college rooms could help fund improvements to the city's visitor offer, the council Fawcett, city centre manager at Oxford City Council, said: "It's not really just about our tourists, it's about anybody who uses the city. "So whether you live here, whether you work here, whether you're a student here, as well as a tourist, we want to improve that experience." Similar schemes already operate in other parts of the country, including Manchester and introduced its ABID in April 2023, adding a £1 per night visitor charge to hotels and serviced apartments. It raised an estimated £2.8m in its first version began in June, with a £2 nightly charge expected to bring in £9.2m by Dorset, a ballot of hoteliers in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole approved a levy in May 2024, however more than 40 hotels lodged an appeal with the government over how the ballot was meant the introduction of the levy was Oxford, as well as an estimated 2,300 hotel rooms being considered for the programme, Oxford University colleges have approximately 8,000 rooms available at various points in the year, with a predicted annual ABID contribution of £ committee has recommended creating two task groups – one for hoteliers and one for colleges – to lead the design of the scheme and decide which local projects should benefit from the funding. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
