Bath & North East Somerset Council has confirmed it is holding talks with government ministers over levying a ‘tourist tax’ on overnight visitors to the city.
A council spokesperson confirmed the discussions, and similar talks with other local authorities, in a week during which Bath has hit national media headlines as potentially the first UK city to impose the tax. 
The council does not have the power the levy the tax – which could be in the region of a pound or few pounds per visitor per night and added to their accommodation bill – without a change in national legislation.
But the council spokesperson said as Bath welcomed such a large number of tourists from all over the world, it was “sensible to consider the potential for increasing the council’s income to help support local services, invest in the local area and address the financial challenges it faces”.
Adding to the speculation over the move is a suggestion that the elected ‘metro mayor’ for the combined authority covering Bath, Bristol and South Gloucestershire – who will take office this May – could be given the power to charge such a tax.
Bath & North East Somerset Council has previously included a charge for tourists in its budget but not implemented it.
However, the topic re-emerged this week when Bath and North East Somerset cabinet member for finance and efficiency, Charles Gerrish, told BBC Radio Bristol that the council was now considering what he called a “tourist bed tax” for hotels and B&Bs.
This, he said, would help “shore up” the finances of the council, which is faces £37m in cuts over the next five years.
He told the programme: “If you go on holiday in Europe, in many countries when you stay in a hotel, you are asked to make a very small contribution to the local authority in addition to your hotel bill. When I stay in Italy, for example, I pay something like one euro per head per night.
“It is something we believe in an area that receives as many tourists as we do from all over the world, we ought to be allowed to consider.”
A similar idea is understood to have been floated in Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands but not implemented.
Such taxes are common in many tourist hotspots in Europe. The Balearic Islands recently imposed a €2 (£1.75) charge per person per night. Some Italian cities have much higher charges – Rome now taxes visitors at the rate of €10 per night for a double room.
However, the idea attracted widespread scepticism, with critics pointing out that Bath already has the UK’s highest hotel rates outside London and that UK VAT rates are much higher than in most other European countries.
Visit Bath chief executive David James said he hoped the council would not be the first to do introduce the tax while some hotel and guest house owners said it would send the wrong out the wrong message about the city.
The British Hospitality Association (BHA), which opposes tourist taxes, instead called for a cut in VAT.
Chief executive Ufi Ibrahim said: “With political and economic uncertainty increasing it is more important than ever to ensure UK tourism can compete.
“The UK continues to have on average twice the tourism VAT rate across Europe.”
The Bath & North East Council spokesperson said the views of businesses and residents would be taken into account to help shape any scheme if the idea was taken forward.
