Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole region considers local visitor charge

Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP) could become the UK’s first seasonal tourist hotspot to introduce a local visitor charge.

In March, BCP council agreed to hold a ballot over the tax, which it said could raise at least £2m a year to support the area’s tourism industry, which employs around 7% of the local workforce.

Under the current proposals, a charge of £2.40 would be added to a guest bill per room, per night, equating to roughly £10 over four nights.

This would be used to fund a local Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID), and fees would be collected on a quarterly basis.

Both Manchester and Liverpool have introduced charges on hotels and serviced apartments to fund BIDs, while Thanet District Council in Kent is considering a similar scheme.

Rosie Radwell, managing director of Marsham Court hotel (pictured) and chair of the BCP ABID shadow board, has held discussions about the city visitor charge with hoteliers from the coastal region for the past year and a half.

She told The Caterer: “It will be similar to a city tax you pay abroad, but it will be collected by the hotel and that will go into an accommodation BID to continue to provide a clean, safe environment for our guests to come to.

“It will help us to provide events in our area, so the likes of the Christmas Tree Wonderland, the Christchurch Food Festival and the Maritime Festival, as they need funding in order for these go to ahead.”

Should BCP Council vote in favour of the ABID, the BCP region would become the UK’s first seasonal tourist destination to implement the charge from 1 July this year.

“A lot of people worry that because you are seasonal, your occupancy is a lot lower in the low-peak season, and people are worried about putting the extra money on during the cost of living crisis,” said Radwell.

“You could argue we could do it in a few years’ time when other destinations have done it, but why be the last destination to do it when you can be the first? Somebody’s got to lead the way.”

Radwell said a lot of councils were “pulling out [from] funding tourism”, which has accelerated the need for a separate ABIDs to support hoteliers.

“We’ll find out on the 14 May if the BID gets the yes vote, and if it does, the funds will help us to start creating new websites for the area.

“We’ll be able to go to travel trade shows as a destination, create an LVEP (Local Visitor Economy Partnership) so that we can feed into Visit England, and it will keep us alive.”