The tourism minister is mulling over the idea of shifting one of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ's bank holidays to support families access more affordable holidays. Sir Chris Bryant discussed this concept while promoting British tourism and careers in hospitality and the holiday sector during his visit to Cornwall.
Sir Chris was spending time at Mylor Sailing School, near Falmouth, where he was engaging in "work experience" with local tourism businesses. His aim was to demonstrate the diverse and rewarding career opportunities within the visitor economy nationwide, countering some widespread misconceptions about job stability and earnings in the sector.
Sir Chris was asked about the likelihood of introducing a tourism tax in Cornwall. Such taxes are levied on accommodation costs in many European cities, either as a fixed amount or a percentage of the room rate.
Edinburgh and Glasgow will implement a 5% tax on hotel stays starting from July next year and January 2027, respectively.
"We haven't got any plans to allow Cornwall to introduce a tourism tax. I hear it both ways. Hoteliers say to me, we're already highly taxed, we don't want to pay more taxes. Then I hear people say, we need more investment in local visitor economy.
"How do the two match? That's our job, to manage that balance. One thing we can definitely do and will do is resolve this issue around short-term lets because it's an unfair arrangement at the moment.
"It can be an identical room in a hotel or in an Airbnb – the hotel has to meet all sorts of quality standards, health and safety and all the rest of it, and pays tax and VAT. The Airbnb doesn't. So one of the things we will do is have a short-term lets register and I hope that at some point that might end up becoming a licensing system.
"So, in the first place, at least we know in areas like Cornwall where all the short-term lets are, and then local authorities will be able to makes decisions about how they want to progress on the back of that. The legislation's in place and we're doing all the IT now to get it up and running, and I hope it will be ready for April for next year's season."
Returning to Sir Chris stating there were no plans by the Labour Government to permit authorities to introduce a tourism tax, it has been extensively reported that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner sought to grant councils the authority to do precisely that as part of the new devolution bill.
Nevertheless, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and the Treasury rejected the proposal due to concerns that it could diminish revenue for businesses already grappling with higher national insurance taxes and increases in the minimum wage.
"We had a round table in Downing Street with people from different parts of the tourism sector and some people were demanding the tourism tax and some were violently opposed to it, which is why I say that honestly, we haven't got any plans to do that.
"I know that in Wales they've done something now, they've done something different in Scotland. Manchester's got its version, Liverpool's got its version. They're voluntary systems. We're going to watch all of that, but if I said to hoteliers right now, people have all got to pay an extra £2 a night ot whatever, they'd all go 'hang on, can you cut our VAT?'".
In his effort to promote British tourism, the minister continued: "One of the problems we've had in the last few years is that domestic tourism isn't up to the level that it was before Covid, so we've got to do something about those numbers. You see a day like this and go 'what's the point of going to Spain when we've got this on our doorsteps?'
"I also want to shout out loud that a career in tourism is a really good thing. Historically, in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ we've tended to see jobs in hospitality as things you do when you're waiting to finish your degree course. Actually, other places in Europe see it as a career.
"I've met people today who started off working behind the bar or washing dishes who've ended up managing a hotel. Cracking career progression. It's one of the very few industries where you can go from having no skills and no qualifications to being a highly skilled person within a year. We need more people to work in this industry."
Surely that will only happen with better pay and more respect for staff?
"I know some people in the sector have said one of the problems has been the increase in the minimum wage, but you've got to pay people properly. I think we need a kind of mindset change across the whole of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ about how we see these jobs. I've met two people today who supplement their pension income by working two days a week in tourism – perfect."
Cornwall struggles with a deluge of visitors in the summer months, while it's always been a struggle to get people to visit out of season, often when the weather can be better. Is that something the Government can help push?
"I've initiated this process to set a national strategy for the visitor economy – it's the first time we will have done that. One of the key parts is about extending the season. There are lots of things you can do.
"Lots of resorts and towns have found imaginative ways of doing that – vintage car rallies or book festivals, a whole variety of things which extend the season even if it's by two or three weeks. Who knows, we may even think about moving one of the bank holidays.
"It's a thought in the back of my head at the moment, but I'm toying with it. I don't want to be too specific. They're concentrated a bit and for lots of families it's really difficult to get away during term time for obvious reasons, but that means the times when they can go away are more expensive. So is there something we can do to balance that out?"
