tourism tax don't hold you breath, or how good food buys influence

My previous post Cornish Tourist Tax a Great Idea, has proved very popular and in terms of hits is well up there in my top ten most visited, which is a great surprise seeing as it's one of my most recent posts. So I drafted a blog yesterday explaining briefly, that a tourist tax would be workable as other places do it (e.g.the French bed tax and  the USA's entrance fee). Further that is doesn't appear to be detrimental there. Also rises in VAT and fuel duty have more of an effect on tourism and are much unfairer to everyone, but yet still haven't 'killed off' tourism. Also people love coming to Cornwall, there are much nearer destinations for tourists whether they be from Berlin, Birmingham, London or La Rochelle and I am sure they wouldn't mind paying an extra fee. This fee could indeed be used to improve infrastructure and have a knock on benefit to the vast majority of Cornwall's residents who don't work in tourism. But illuminating these arguments seems pointless as the tourist industry is very good at lobbying and I would say there is now no chance of a tourist tax. In fact the opposite, it looks as though the taxpayer will not only continue subsidising tourism promotion (Visit Cornwall) subsidising the loss-making Newquay airport but further that a  dedicated cabinet member for tourism will be created.

The reason that is the situation is the very efficent way in which the tourist industry lobbies and they know that the saying that the 'way to a man's heart is through his stomach' is also true of councillors. Who were treated to a cookery demonstration and food tasting at probably the finest venus of this sort in Cornwall, owned by Rick Stein. As Alex Folkes explains:

"First up was a cookery demonstration and tasting session kindly provided by the Seafood School (and duly declared by the councillors present in the register of gifts and hospitality). Great food prepared by two chefs with a great commentary and recipe cards for us to take home. The food itself was Spanish and comes from Mr Stein's new book." from the Lanson boy blog

Andrew Wallis also blogged about it, link here, they both seem to tell the same story; tourist tax is bad, Tom Flanagan should be flogged and explained to that tourism is very important for the Cornish economy. (Presumably had the tourist chiefs known that Tom Flanagan was going to damage their reputation in such a way he would have been treated to such hospitality) Andrew Wallis concludes and I think it sums up the position of both the Liberal Democrat (Folkes) and the Independent (Wallis):

"It was also agree in principle that the Tourism Panel and VCP should meet for regularly as in the last two years today was the first time both panels had met. This would work as it would have those in the industry who know the business and those in the business of politics singing from the same hymn sheet." (again from the link above)

Both bloggers have denounced tourist tax before Folke's tourist tax not a single positive comment and Wallis's Poll tax on tourist, so I don't think the finest celebrity chef designed food really budged them much. But it is of concern that Andrew Wallis mentions something very new after his sojourn to Padstow, that is the idea of a cabinet member for tourism:

"After the bed tax issue was discussed it was felt that tourism should be higher up on the political agenda. I agree, as for an industry that accounts for at least 25% of the Cornish economy there is no Cabinet position for Tourism."

So certainly whatever the price was to entertain these elected officials it certainly caused the Independent to have a change of heart, ( I don't know how much the bill was but here's a link to the corporate events page, "prices start from £1000 for group of 10 or less"). Assuming that Andrew enjoyed the hospitality and didn't pick up his own bill.

How does this look for democracy in Cornwall? it prompts me to ask these questions:

• Should businesses that benefit from large public funding be able to entertain elected officials?
• Would the other three quarters of Cornwall's industries benefit from public funding if they took councillors out for the night?
• Might other industries use hospitality trips to curry favour and have their own industry specific panel?
• Could homeless charities lavish councillors with hospitality and get the Supporting People's budget slash of 40% reversed?
• Is it right and proper in this time of austerity and 2000 job losses at Cornwall Council, that councillors act in such a way?

As a side note I am not adverse to tourism it is important it employs about 10% of the Cornish labour force and contributes about 25% of our GDP, it would be foolish to undermine this trade. But that said, tourism does have a great amount of influence on Cornwall Council, tourism gets a large amount of funding yet our other industries such as fishing, farming, agricultrue, quarrying, china clay, manufacturing, retail, boat building, construction etc etc don't get these same benefits. This is why tourist tax is such a good idea, part of the money it raised could be used to pay for the Visit Cornwall budget, freeing up public funds to promote all of our industries. But first and foremost Cornwall Council and Cornish councillors need to think about how they conduct themselves in public when acting as councillors.

p.s. if this meeting of Cornwall Council's tourism panel was in fact paid for by the taxpayer I will happily apologise and no doubt write another post on that subject.

a Cornish tourist tax, a great idea

One of the senior officers at Cornwall Council Tom Flanagan has created something of a stir by suggesting a tourist tax at a committe in Westminster. In his own words he explains:

“Cornwall has 26 million visitor nights per year. If you put £1 per head per bed that could raise £26 million which could go into investment. These are funding opportunities for Cornwall if we are given the freedom."

Now there is some controversy that this has come from an officer rather than a councillor and it probably wasn't the most astute move talking about it in Westminster before councillors had discussed it. It does highlight the concern of people in Cornwall that the officers run the show at Lys Kernow, this needs to be addressed (another day perhaps).  But that said, the idea of a tourist tax has been kicking around for years, I've no doubt that councillors have discussed it before and are more than aware of the arguments. So let's for a second consider the idea.

The costs of tourism

Cornwall has a large number of visitors every year, they place a strain on all of our services. They contribute to the wear and tear of our roads, they use our hospitals, need our police force and need our lifeguards. In a fiscal sense the Cornish taxpayer is responsible for maintaining vital aspects of the tourist industry. In a very real sense, we suffer because our roads are busy in the summer it takes longer to drive anywhere, our towns are busier with holiday makers. Also the council pays a great deal to support the tourist industry, funding the the Cornwall tourism board not to mention the loss making Newquay Airport. Also the prominence of the tourist trade encourages holiday home ownership which artficially inflates house prices and provides a real problem of empty homes in our communities making villages less viable.

Now there is a positive benefit to the Cornish economy many businesses and bed and breakfast owners have grown very rich from the tourist trade. Of this there is no doubt and all power to them. But the fact remains that the burden of supporting the tourist trade and the infrastructure it demands falls on everyone, not just the minority who earn a living from tourism. Let's not forget that people love coming to Cornwall and wouldn't begrudge or even notice a small increase in their bills.

Implementation

I have some doubts as to how a tourist tax would be introduced and quite how it would work. A pound per person per night sounds simple enough but enforcement of this would be complicated. Would every campsite/ hotel/ bed and breakfast/ holiday cottage have to be registered? how would this system be monitored? As an alternative I believe a much simpler system would be to proportonally raise the rates of tourism businesses. With larger businesses such as large hotels and camp sites paying more than smaller hotels and bed and breakfasts. I believe this would have the same result as a pound tourist tax but would be much simpler and would be more progressive and fairer on smaller businesses. It also would be administratively much simpler.

Let's put this one to bed

By the by Tom Flanagan also explained that Cornwall Council could eliminate the council tax discount for second home owners, my only comment, are we still having this conversation? everyone should pay the same council tax.