Skift Take
Are destinations taxing visitors because they don't want them to show up? Actually, the conversation around tourism taxes shows that it's not really fewer visitors that destinations want — it's more resources and management tools to deal with them properly.
If overtourism is the concern du jour, then tourist taxes are increasingly being posed as one solution. This year alone, Japan, New Zealand, Bali, Venice, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and others have either passed or implemented plans for new taxes. Not without reason, these are many of the same destinations also in the headlines for an overhwhelming onslaught of visitors.
Taxing tourists isn’t new, of course. Transient room and accommodation taxes have long been levied on overnight visitors in many destinations. But this relatively recent crop of taxes are something of a different breed than in years before. Rather than being a straightforward way to raise money for tourism marketing efforts, they are often framed as a response to overtourism — a way to lessen the strain that tourism itself brings. In addition, as is the case in Edinburgh, they can be a way for local governments to signal to fed up locals they are doing something productive to meet the challenges tourism brings.
Taxes on a consumer good — alcohol, cigarettes, soda — are often viewed as a deterrent. If something is even slightly more expensive, the logic goes, some people are likely to say “no thanks.” But most destinations are not really in the business of telling tourists to stay away — at least not yet. This raises a question: In the age of overtourism, does it make sense to actively promote tourism, while also taxing it?
The Holy Grail
The policies of many destinations would suggest that coexistence is possible. That’s because the goal isn’t necessarily less tourists, but rather that holy grail of an effectively-managed, sustainable, and lucrative tourism industry. Take New Zealand for example. The island nation’s International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) went into effect in July. Folded into the visa or new visa-waiver program cost, it is managed by the government’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
Iain Cossar, the ministry
