Southport is a tourist town, with a rich heritage that brings in millions of visitors to our town every year.
Sefton’s own figures estimate 8.4 million visitors every year to Southport, generating around £597 million for the local economy and supporting thousand of jobs.
Tourism is important to Southport, there is no getting away from that.
Yet, the Labour government, cheered on by a Labour council and a Labour Metro-Mayor, is introducing a tax on overnight stays that will put further pressure on our local tourism, leisure and hospitality sector.
Southport Conservative’s Mike Prendergast said, “It’s worth noting that the Tourist Tax is uncapped. Labour mayors have said they will cap it at 5% but that’s not statute, more a mayoral pinky promise and Labour’s record on u-turns suggests there’s every possibility they might change their minds.”
“The Government says the levy will allow local leaders to invest in high streets, transport, events and tourism. The Liverpool City Region Mayor, Steve Rotheram says a levy could raise up to £18 million a year across the region.”
“Those who support the tax say lots of places do it, conveniently ignoring that in many places that have a similar charge the rates of VAT for hotels and hospitality are much lower than in the UK.”
One of the big challenges for Southport is converting a greater number of day visitors to Southport into overnight stays. Only 759,000 of the visitors to Southport stay overnight according to Sefton Council.
Right now, Sefton Council is embarking on the £106 million construction of the new Marine Lake Events Centre and there is an obvious paradox here.
The latest Sefton Council figures say the centre is expected to attract more than 600,000 additional visitors each year, create 386 jobs and contribute around £31 million annually to the local economy. MLEC is forecast to also create demand for two additional Southport hotels by 2028 and another by 2034.
Now you can argue about the cost of that scheme, the huge levels of borrowing, the dither and delay in appointing a construction company (3rd time lucky) and the general lack of transparency; the justification and business case for MLEC, to a large degree, rests on increasing the number of overnight stays in Southport.
Commenting, Mike Prendergast said, “This raises a straightforward question: if Southport is investing in new infrastructure specifically to attract conferences, events and overnight visitors, is introducing a tax on those overnight stays going to encourage more people to stay or is it going to put them off? I would wager the latter.”
“In January of this year, Conservatives on Sefton Council put forward a motion opposing the Tourist Tax. Apart from my disagreeing with the government’s, ever more creative, ways of taking money from people, I also highlighted that there is a very real possibility that most of the money raised from this tax in Southport could end up being spent in Liverpool.”
“Councillors in Liverpool have already called for most of the money raised within the Liverpool City Region, which Southport and Sefton are part of, to be spent there. That will not help Southport and actively undermines efforts here.”
Southport’s hoteliers and b&b owners, as well as the wider hospitality and leisure sector that is so important to our town, are already struggling with massive increases in employment costs, increased energy costs and a sluggish economy.
“You cannot tax your way to growth.”
“Taking more and more money off people in tax won’t create jobs and won’t encourage people to visit and stay overnight in Southport. It simply puts people off and reduces the number of potential customers for Southport’s accommodation providers.”
“For every pound taken off overnight visitors to our town in Tourist Tax, that’s a pound less being spent with local businesses and a pound less supporting local jobs.”
The Tourist Tax is not going to help Southport and is just another example of how Labour, at all levels of government, have no idea how to create growth.
