Tourists should pay 'proper' city tax - mayor

Visitors currently pay an optional levy to stay in Manchester hotels

Tourists visiting Manchester should pay a "proper" mandatory "tourist levy", Greater Manchester's mayor has said.

Andy Burnham said he wanted to see the city centre's optional fee, the "city visitor charge", replaced by a compulsory charge.

Anyone staying in a city centre hotel is currently urged to pay £1-per-night to fund the Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID) organisation, which promotes Manchester as a destination, and cleans the streets around hotels.

Burnham said it should be replaced by "a proper levy" and would not apply to existing Greater Manchester residents staying in any city region hotel.

Burnham says other European cities tax tourists in this way

"I would like a scheme that's mainly about visitors to Greater Manchester," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

"People pay their council tax and they do not generally stay in hotels. I know it happens but largely it's about people coming into the city region."

"I am putting the case to the government for a tourist levy because Edinburgh has brought one in," he said.

"I think Glasgow have voted to bring one in. Wales are looking at it as well."

Edinburgh's local authority said its levy of 5% would take effect from 24 July 2026, and it hoped to raise £50m per year from it.

The mayor wants a charge on tourists staying in the city centre to be compulsory

Burnham argued that British people going abroad were compelled to pay a tourist tax when visiting some European countries, so others should pay to stay here.

He added: "In an era where we are struggling to raise funds from the public here it feels right to me [when there's] the levy British tourists pay in France, Germany, and Italy… why should people from there not pay one?"

Tourists are currently urged to pay £1 per night to stay in the city's hotels

In its first year in Manchester, the city visitor charge raised about £2.8m, and the ABID said it had not received any complaints from guests via hotels in the scheme.

Kumar Mishra, general manager of The Edwardian hotel, said the fee helped to secure large-scale conferences and events and provided specialist training for accommodation operators on counter-terrorism and security, as well as paying for more street cleaning in the city centre.

The BBC has contacted the government for a response.