State eyes bed tax to pump more money into marketing the tourism industry

SECRET investigations are determining whether a bed tax levy would help the government honour its promise to make Queensland the nation's "number one" destination by 2020.

SECRET investigations are determining whether a bed tax levy would help the State Government honour its promise to make Queensland the nation's "number one" destination by 2020.

Working groups involving industry leaders from across the state have been formed to assess whether Queensland could add a bed tax to its room rate to help pump more money into marketing the tourism industry and increase visitor numbers.

It is believed the issue reared its head again at a DestinationQ conference, leading to both industry and state examining the possibility of changing legislation to allow it to happen.

The "old chestnut" has been mulled over before, but it is understood the Newman Government is "pushing harder" for it as it looks to deliver its ambitious tourism DestinationQ targets.

DestinationQ "aims to make Queensland the number one tourist destination in Australia, with a medium-term goal of doubling overnight visitor expenditure to $30 billion by 2020", according to the State Government.

In addition, under the national Tourism 2020 plan, other goals include:

• Increasing international visitor nights by 24 per cent above the forecast growth.

• Increasing domestic visitor nights by 29 per cent above the forecast growth.

• Increasing international aircraft movements from 21,190 to 57,130.

• Increasing hotel rooms by 16,460 to meet demand at existing occupancy rates.

• Increasing the workforce by nearly 40,000.

Using the bed tax to help achieve the highly ambitious targets has divided working groups. Accommodation providers are against the proposal, fearing it will be the hotels that carry the cost of the tax.

"The consumer is already spending. Taxing them more is not an incentive to come here," an industry source said.

"The industry in Queensland is fairly self sustainable. The Government needs to put in more money if those targets are going to be met."

The tax, used at destinations across the US, could be 1 per cent of the room rate.

It is also understood there are issues surrounding the legalities of where the state can tax consumers, after it waived many of its rights with the introduction of the GST.