Future Tourism: Cairns hotels face tough decisions on marketing levy
One major obstacle is blocking Far North Queensland from getting a tourism levy that could inject tens of millions of dollars into the region’s marketing efforts.
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IT IS billed as one of the most critical economic decisions facing the Far North in a generation – but anyone trying to convince the hotel industry to support a bed-tax tourism levy will face an uphill battle.
Cairns Regional Council Mayor Bob Manning has been pushing for a levy for years, and now Advance Cairns has joined the chorus ahead of its convoy to Brisbane next month.
Queensland Hotels Association chief executive Bernie Hogan said the Far North accommodation industry would reject any proposal that put all of the onus for collecting a levy on hotels.
“It’s taxing accommodation when all parts of the economy benefit from tourism,” he said.
“It’s trying to compensate when the State Government should be funding tourism appropriately.”
Mr Hogan said a drastic increase in tourism funding for the destination was the answer.
He acknowledged hotel operators stood to benefit from increased tourist numbers but questioned why they should be singled out.
“Restaurants do, the taxis do, the airports do, the supermarkets do,” he said. “People don’t understand the breadth of the tourism industry.
“Cleaners and waste removal are part of the tourism industry – it’s not just the hotels.”
Cr Manning said an interim State Government funding package of at least $10 million was needed immediately to tide over the industry through its current troubles.
He predicted any levy could not come into force until at least a year after the state election, with polling, research and the slow passage of legislation required before it became law – assuming the government had an appetite to introduce it.
Cr Manning said it would require the hotel industry to acknowledge the benefit of a levy to the whole region.
“They (the State Government) will not go to war with the accommodation industry,” he said. “That’s what it would involve – a dispute between the two. Whether it’s the LNP or Labor, no government will do that.
“They will want the industry – and this is the way it should be … to sort that out themselves.”
The hotel industry may be against a levy, but holiday stay tech giant Airbnb has backed the policy.
Originally published as Future Tourism: Cairns hotels face tough decisions on marketing levy
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