Your support for a “visitor tax” (Editorial, 10 April) glosses over the realities of the cost of living crisis and the continuing impact of the pandemic. It fails to recognise that not all visitors are equal. There is a vast difference in disposable income between a family holidaying in a caravan, a single person in well-paid work heading off for a weekend, or someone staying in a hostel.
Hostels were closed and restricted for longer than other establishments during the pandemic. Those losses will never be recouped. Higher energy costs make opening during the colder months challenging or unviable, and charges have increased. Those with money tend not to share dormitories with strangers, paying barely more than £15-£30 a night.
In Wales, the government plans to introduce legislation allowing local authorities to set a visitor tax, but has conveniently ignored its own evidence. A Visit Wales market demand report this year found that, compared with 2022, non-Welsh visitors in 2023 are more likely to say they “can’t afford a trip to Wales” and that they are “taking an overseas holiday instead”. Its Wales tourism business barometer 2023 report found that “on balance, the industry has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels”.
Not all local authorities need more money. Gwynedd council in north Wales has usable reserves of nearly £143m. It could invest in any required infrastructure for tourists.
A visitor tax is regressive and will make it harder for those on low incomes to afford a holiday.
Jill Hughes and Neil Martinson
Snowdonia Mountain Hostel, Nant Ffrancon, Gwynedd
• This letter was amended on 19 April 2023. An earlier version said the Welsh government had passed legislation allowing local authorities to set a visitor tax.
