{"id":556705,"date":"2025-11-08T06:34:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T06:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/556705\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T06:34:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T06:34:20","slug":"if-people-cannot-afford-more-they-wont-come-the-big-debate-on-who-should-pay-for-manchesters-tourist-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/556705\/","title":{"rendered":"‘If people cannot afford more, they won\u2019t come’: The big debate on who should pay for Manchester’s tourist boom"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mayor wants a tourist tax in place before the city hosts Euro 2028 matches – but some fear it could halt the rising numbers of people coming to stay. Ethan Davies reports on the debate playing out in the corridors of hotelsHundreds of thousands of Oasis fans gave Manchester a big economic boost this summer – but who should pick up the bill for their visit?(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

There were two titanic clashes in Manchester on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

City took on Dortmund at the Etihad, and next door Busted battled it out with McFly at Co-op Live, bringing in tens of thousands of visitors.<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s largest indoor arena, Co-op Live has been cited as one of the main reasons why Manchester\u2019s footfall surged by 9pc from summer 2023 to July, as tourists flock in for a once-in-a-lifetime show, football match, or just to soak up the city\u2019s \u2018buzz\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

That all puts pressure on services like public transport \u2014 and someone needs to pay for that.<\/p>\n

According to Andy Burnham<\/a> and a new report by a thinktank, Greater Manchester should tax tourists to help make ends meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not believe, if we need to raise more money for services in the city, we go first to people living here or businesses here,\u201d the mayor told BBC Radio Manchester on Thursday morning (November 6).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s fair because of the extra transport we have to put on there\u2019s a contribution from people visiting That\u2019s where I would go first. I would ask the government to let us have a tourist levy.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the Euros in 2028. If that [tax] was in place we could make that more successful. \u201c<\/p>\n

The idea of charging tourists for Manchester\u2019s upkeep isn\u2019t completely new, though.<\/p>\n

Visitors staying in city centre hotels have paid a \u00a31-per-night \u2018city visitor charge\u2019 since April 2023<\/a> to fund extra street cleaning and other services. Although the fee is voluntary, guests have to opt-out of paying, so most fork out, with \u00a32.8m collected in the first year.<\/p>\n

But replacing the charge with a formal tourist tax was met with a mixed reception by tourists in town 24 hours before the Eastlands<\/a> battles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not think it would put me off Manchester,\u201d said Holly Clarke, 38, staying in Exchange Square with her partner, Leo Worsdale, 40, after seeing American hardcore band Turnstile at Mayfield Depot.<\/p>\n

Big European nights at the Etihad draw in overseas visitors, and plenty come from afar to see a game at Old Trafford<\/p>\n

The duo from Lincoln visit the second city \u2018for a specific reason, like a gig last night\u2019, Holly added, so she felt \u2018committed\u2019 to paying accommodation costs \u2018once you\u2019ve bought the gig ticket\u2019.<\/p>\n

She could see the argument for taxing her stay: \u201cTourists put money into the local economy, and they take it out in terms of the buildings they stay in and the facilities they use.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Hayden Brown, leaving legendary hotel Sacha\u2019s in the Northern Quarter<\/a>, said he would only pay the tax begrudgingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you had to, I would [pay], but I would not be happy,\u201d he said. He visited the city to see the Radio X medley at the Apollo from Derby. However, he added: \u201c\u00a31 per night is okay. If a tax was [on the] less expensive [end] I would be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Manc woman who only gave her name as Norma, leaving Hotel Indigo next to Victoria Station, also said \u00a31 per night is fair enough\u2019 but worried \u2018if people cannot afford more, they won\u2019t come\u2019.<\/p>\n

Manchester would not be the first British city to introduce a tourist tax, so the mayor could if it deters tourists from Wales and Edinburgh both of which recently introduced one, according Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre for Cities.<\/p>\n

Manchester’s Christmas Markets also bring in thousands and thousands of visitors(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The pro-devolution thinktank recently published a report calling on the government to give mayors the power to levy a tourist tax as a percentage of their hotel bill, with the proceeds split between the mayor\u2019s office and local council in question.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would endorse very strongly that the money raised should be reinvested in A: Analysis into visitor economy related activity. And B, into growth related investments,\u201d Mr Carter told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re thinking about how you can expand the tax base, and grow the economy. So it’s either directly into visitor economy related stuff, which, if it goes well, grows taxes anyway. But even if it, even if it’s not directly into that, although it probably should be\u2026 it should still be in growth-related stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Annie Brown was the inaugural chair of the ABID(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

For the moment, the decision lies with the government. Although the mayor\u2019s been clear on his position, a spokesperson for the organisation which runs the city visitor charge scheme, Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID) refused to be drawn on the prospect of it being replaced.<\/p>\n

They said: \u201cManchester was the first destination in the country to create a fair mechanism to generate additional funding that is now already successfully delivering for our city centre accommodation providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Manchester Accommodation BID puts hoteliers in direct control, with activity agreed by \u2013 and specifically impacting \u2013 the accommodation sector with incremental business growth and benefits for the whole city including cleaner streets, more events, and greater promotion opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The mayor wants a tourist tax in place before the city hosts Euro 2028 matches – but some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[8916,748,1936,393,4884,2465,8086,29712,5006,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-556705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-andy-burnham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-co-op-live","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-manchester-city-centre","15":"tag-manchester-development","16":"tag-tourism","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115512691545231356","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}