19-05-2025
- Business
- South Wales Argus
Conservative call for yacht tourism tax exemption sinks
Sam Rowlands, the Tory shadow finance secretary, introduced an amendment to the tourism tax bill to remove powers for ministers to extend the levy to berths and moorings in future.
He argued extending the bill to marinas would be unnecessarily complicated and burdensome, adding that boating is a leisure and sporting activity.
He said: 'To be clear, those that provide berths and moorings are not providing visitor accommodation in any real sense. By their nature, those vessels… move around.'
Mr Rowlands told Senedd members: 'It's quite clear that boaters have a minimal… impact on local services because they are self-contained within the berth or mooring area.'
But Senedd members voted 3-1 against the Conservative's proposal as the finance committee considered nearly 160 amendments to the bill.
Mike Hedges, who represents Swansea East, said: 'As I tell people quite regularly, we've got a marina there and I can tell you now – when people come in by boat into that marina, they don't stay in the marina… they go into the city centre and they use the services there."
His Labour colleague Mark Drakeford agreed: 'It is right that [for] a yacht arriving at Swansea or Cardiff marina… the yacht owner should pay the levy just as somebody staying in a nearby hotel or the Cardiff council campsite in Pontcanna will be.'
If the bill completes its passage through the Welsh Parliament, £1.30 a person before VAT could be charged on overnight stays in hotels, B&Bs and self-catering accommodation.
A lower rate of 80p would apply to hostels and campsites, with the 22 Welsh councils given powers to decide whether to introduce a local levy from 2027 at the earliest.
The committee also rejected Tory calls for a 10-night cap on the levy as well as exemptions for educational trips, charities, members of the armed forces and veterans. A Plaid Cymru amendment to exempt all under 16s was also defeated.
But Senedd members were able to agree other amendments, including an exemption for under 18s from the lower rate, during the 'stage-two' meeting on May 15.
Members voted to raise the lower and higher rates by 5p to 80p and £1.30 respectively.
The bill now moves to the third step: consideration of amendments by the whole Senedd: before a crunch vote on the final version at stage four.
