Lambeth Council has called for a tourist tax to be introduced in the borough and across London.
Lambeth Labour pushed for an ‘Overnight Visitor Levy’ that they argue would be a ‘fair and progressive’ way to practice sustainable tourism for the local community.
‘An overnight levy, sometimes called a tourist levy, would be a small charge paid by tourists and visitors on accommodation costs such as hotels and short-term lets,’ the council penned on an online petition.
Some of London’s most iconic attractions are based in Lambeth.
The include the National Theatre, the London Eye, Brixton’s 02 Academy and Oval Cricket Ground.
The London Eye alone attracts millions of visitors every year and South Bank brings in three million tourists every month.
The plans take inspiration from other cities including Manchester and Liverpool, where pilot schemes are testing a £1 to £2 a night charge.
Lambeth Council has called for a tourist tax to be introduced in the borough and across London
Elsewhere, Edinburgh is set to bring in a five per cent levy from July 2026 which is thought will bring in £50million a year.
In the council meeting, it was noted that tourism can bring ‘substantial and growing pressure on key local services’ including waste management.
Though it emphasised that the tourism industry was also ‘undoubtedly a cause for celebration’.
A ‘modest discretionary charge’ was proposed that could help ensure the local area and services ‘receive a fair return from the economic strength of our visitor economy’, according to the council meeting notes.
They also argued a tourist tax that is applied ‘London-wide’ would help ‘raise hundreds of millions of pounds each year’.
Other destinations abroad charge tourist taxes including the Balearic Islands where Brits recently faced a huge tourist tax hike with unions pressing for a €15 payment per day in the summer months.
The CCOO (Workers’ Commission) admits the proposal has nothing to do with raising money for the care of the environment – but rather to deliberately deter holidaymakers from ‘saturated’ Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca.
The proposed charge was put forward by Lambeth Labour in a meeting on October 15
Furious union leaders say the Balearic government is dragging its feet and doing nothing about over-tourism despite repeated promises to address the issue.
The CCOO says every tourist should be charged €15 a day in the months of July and August, which would be applied as long as the annual number of visitors does not fall below 14 or 15 million.
‘It is not an increase with a desire to collect but a dissuasive one so that the Balearic Islands send a clear message to the world that there is no room for more people here in high season,’ said CCOO general secretary for the Balearics, José Luís García.
He said the Balearic government made a commitment to increase the tourist tax in 2024 at the height of mass demonstrations against over-tourism so it should stick to its pledge.
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