Queensland considers tourism tax but concerns it may deter visitors

Canadian backpacker Morgan Wulff is on the biggest trip of his life, having swapped the wintry climes of his homeland for the tropics of Far North Queensland.

The 23-year-old — one of more than 200,000 visitors who will arrive in Australia on a working holiday visa this year — has landed in Cairns just as the region’s tourism sector begins to enter its quietest period on the calendar.

As Mr Wulff went on his first walk through the Cairns CBD on Tuesday, hundreds of tourism operators and industry leaders, including Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive Mark Olsen, met nearby to discuss how to increase the number of visitors over the next two decades.

High on their wish list is the introduction of a visitor levy to help fund the infrastructure needed to cope with the tens of thousands of extra tourists expected to visit the state each year.

“Over 340 cities in 100 countries around the world have put in forms of levies, so we are open to the opportunity,” Mr Olsen said.

Cairns Mayor Amy Eden said a charge of about 2.5 per cent could raise up to $19 million for her council alone, easing the pressure on locals who were being asked to fund the infrastructure that tourists used.

A visitor levy — colloquially labelled a “bed tax” as it would be collected by hotels, motels and short stays via a small surcharge on accommodation bills — has not been introduced in Queensland despite winning the support of most of the state’s councils in 2022.

Some councils such as the Gold Coast already raise money for tourism marketing through a special charge for certain businesses on their rates notices.

However, an accommodation levy on tourists would need legislative reform.

Mr Wulff, who lives about 45 minutes from the Canadian resort town of Banff — which charges visitors an entry fee — said he understood why Australians would support a tax on tourists.

“But as a traveller myself, who is not going to be here permanently, I wouldn’t support it,” he said.

“If it was five bucks, yeah, wouldn’t sweat it. If I’m getting taxed just to be here, then, no thanks.”

Two women in their early twenties standing on a footpath, smiling. Both wear singlets, one wears a cap.
Tourists Olivia Leisenberg, 20, of Germany, (left) and Leonie Bruhin, 24, of Switzerland have weighed in on the tourist levy debate. (ABC News: Christopher Testa)

Swiss backpacker Leonie Bruhin, 24, said she had paid similar visitor levies elsewhere in Europe, and was not confident the funds they raised were used wisely.

Her friend, Olivia Leisenberg, 20, from Germany, said a tourist tax would not deter her from visiting Australia but may influence which cities or regions she chose to visit.

“Australia is an expensive country, I would say, for backpackers,” she said.

Tourism Minister Andrew Powell said the bed tax concept was “not off the books”.

“At this stage, I am supporting the conversation being had around it,” he said.

“Whilst there are some councils who are keen on this, there are others who are categorically against.”

Every winter a large cohort of Australians head north for the European summer. But with growing tourism hostility sweeping many visitor hotspots, they may not be getting such a warm welcome.

Its introduction may depend on the outcome of consultation on the Queensland government’s new 20-year tourism strategy, labelled Destination 2045.

Several international destinations have introduced visitor levies to cope with overtourism, with some, such as Venice, still recording an increase in visitor numbers.

Mr Olsen, who represents the  Far North Queensland’s peak tourism body said there was already evidence a levy would not turn tourists off visiting Queensland.

He pointed to an environmental management charge of about $7.80, added to the cost of each ticket to the Great Barrier Reef.

“It’s about three and a half, nearly 4 per cent, of the price of going to the reef and it didn’t change reef visitation,” Mr Olsen said.

“What did change visitation is perception of coral beaching and the impact of climate change on our natural world.”

Brian Hennessy, international sales manager at Sunlover Reef Cruises, said there was “broad support across the region for a tax”.

“I did about 25 weeks outside Australia last year promoting this region and the vast majority of destinations that I travelled to charge some sort of infrastructure tax, bed tax, whatever you want to call it,” he said.

Cairns MP and opposition tourism spokesman Michael Healy said he was “very keen” to see the measure implemented on one condition.

“The money needs to go back to the regional council, not down to Brisbane, where if it did, I suspect we’d be going cap in hand back down there,” he said.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Having Holidayed throughout South East Asia over many years, I have paid various “Tourist Taxes”, some are on entry, some on exit to the country and some like Malaysia are based on the number of nights stayed :-
    (From a Google search “malaysia’s tourist tax hotel”)

    RM 10 per room per night
    Tourism Tax (TTX)
    The Tourism Tax is levied on foreign tourists who stay in hotels or other lodging facilities throughout Malaysia. This tax is designed to support the development of tourism infrastructure and initiatives in the country. Rate: RM 10 per room per night (for foreign guests only).

    Therefore I would not be against a “Tourist Tax”, depending on how it would be applied.

LEAVE A REPLY

- Our Partners -

DON'T MISS

- Advertisment -
- Advertisment -