Queensland Councils support Cairns Regional Council’s proposed visitor levy

Several Queensland councils have supported Cairns Regional Council’s proposed 2.5% visitor levy with delegates at the Local Government Association of Queensland's state conference this week voting 170 to 30 in favour of lobbying the state government for the introduction of the levy.

Queensland councils in favour of the levy argue that a visitor levy of just 2.5% on short term accommodation, which “equates to less than the cost of a cup of coffee” would go towards financing tourism infrastructure and destination marketing.

Cairns Regional Council Mayor Bob Manning notes there was clear evidence that increased investment and resources yielded “positive results” for the tourism industry.

Mayor Manning added that in Cairns, the proposed 2.5% visitor levy would raise more than $16 million per annum for destination marketing and tourism industry development, which would deliver an estimated $176 million incremental impact to GRP.

"I know the bigger [councils] certainly will be very keen to opt in, and we've had that feedback from a number of the bigger councils like the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast," Mayor Manning added.

"I've always said whichever state got up first would be the one with the advantage and the other states will follow."

Tourism Tropical North Queensland Chief Executive Mark Olsen said TTNQ welcomed the support from local government for an increased investment in destination marketing.

Olsen highlighted “when you increase destination marketing, you get results, which is what we saw with the Federal Government’s $10 million investment over the past two years.

“That $10 million allowed TTNQ to achieve $300 million in campaign-generated direct visitor expenditure by investing in targeted campaigns and working with our tourism and aviation partners.”

Gold Coast councillors were among the 170 who voted in favour of the motion however the Gold Coast Bulletin reported “business leaders are furious, warning the introduction of a visitor levy would put ‘the boot on the jugular’ of the city’s fragile tourism sector.”

Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said any fresh tax would be a disincentive for visitors to come to the city adding “doing this in an already fragile economy is not a good move because we do not want to make the art of doing business any harder than it already is.”

Southport-based councillor Brooke Patterson, who attended the conference told the Bulletin: “Gold Coast voted in favour at LGAQ after an email straw poll among all our Gold Coast councillors before we left for (the) convention.”

Asked how much tourists would be charged and how it would be done and when, Patterson responded that it was “early days” and that the motion put forward was to “start the conversation with the State.”

The Queensland Government’s Tourism Industry Reference Panel earlier this year urged legislative change to allow the implementation of visitor tourism levies under an opt-in model. At the time, the government said it would consider all the panel’s recommendations, including the visitor levy proposal.

Backers of the visitor levy say it will help the state bounce back from the devastation of border closures during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prior to the pandemic, more than 234,000 people were employed in the state’s tourism industry, yet Queensland was losing market share to overseas and interstate competitors.

The Tourism Industry Reference Panel report, released in June noted “the idea of a visitor levy is not new. It has been modelled, canvassed and debated for the best part of a decade.

“While we appreciate that views are polarised as to whether it is an appropriate way to raise funding, everyone we spoke with saw a greater need than ever for increased funding during the Covid‑19 recovery period.”

Similar visitor levies are charged to hotel guests in many countries overseas such as Canada’s Whistler ski resort, which has imposed visitor levies for many years.

Cairns Regional Council’s position remains that local governments should have the choice, in consultation with their communities, whether to implement a levy, with all funds raised provided directly to destination tourism organisations.

Council says any revenue raised by levies should go directly back to the local tourism sector.

Council also wants the state government to establish a visitor levy advisory group to help councils who want to make such a move find the best way to go about it.