Tourism operators renew call for nationwide accommodation levy

Tourism leaders are calling for political parties to back a nationwide accommodation levy ahead of this year's election.

Regional Tourism New Zealand made the pitch in a bid to create more sustainable funding, saying the costs often fell back on ratepayers because much of the infrastructure - paths, toilets and carparks, and other systems visitors put additional pressure on, including wastewater and transport - were increasingly funded by councils.

The proposed levy would be applied across all accommodation types as a user charge, but it would target shorter stays so it did not hit worker and longer-term temporary accommodation in communities.

Regional Tourism NZ, representing 31 regional tourism organisations, was also pushing for a national register for short-term rental accommodation to be set up so they also contributed.

Chair Andrew Wilson said it would mean visitors contributed directly to the communities they enjoy.

"At the moment, we've obviously got a lot of burden placed on residents and ratepayers having to fund this type of infrastructure and these assets.

"What we're really looking to do is make sure the visitors contribute to that in a modest and fair way."

The funds would be governed independently, reported in long-term plans and returned to the region they were collected in to link visitor demand with investment.

"An accommodation levy gives us the tools to invest in the places visitors come to experience - the infrastructure, the events, the amenities that make New Zealand destinations world-class," he said.

"This is about enabling communities to grow tourism well and giving the industry a sustainable foundation to build on."

Without more sustainable funding, Wilson said the quality of visitor experiences would be degraded.

The funds raised by a levy must not replace existing council investment, but add to it, he said.

A similar levy had been broached by different regions before - Queenstown Lakes residents voted for a bed tax in 2019 before the pandemic hit

while Auckland received a promise to consider a bed tax during its city deal signing earlier this year.

"We want to avoid a situation where there's a whole variety of different arrangements and some kind of patchwork arrangement across the country," Wilson said.

"If we're going to head down this path, we want to make sure that we've done it once and done it at a national level."

The organisation suggested Inland Revenue would be the most efficient way of collecting the levy using its existing GST infrastructure.