{"id":2229919,"date":"2026-10-31T07:10:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T04:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2229919"},"modified":"2026-10-31T07:10:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T04:10:32","slug":"north-east-tourism-tax-backlash-rothbury-is-not-edinburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2229919","title":{"rendered":"North East tourism tax backlash: ‘Rothbury is not Edinburgh’"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/a087\/live\/54b46ac0-95f9-11ef-8e2e-e71633ffe5ec.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"DuncanDuncan Hutt<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Rothbury did not attract as many tourists as Edinburgh, one hotel owner said<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Hotels and music venues have hit out a mayor’s plans to introduce a tourism tax.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In September, the government confirmed plans to allow local leaders to introduce a levy targeted at tourists staying in hotels, bed and breakfasts and other types of accommodation in their regions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has said she will bring in the fee and it would boost jobs, while Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has said he will not. Local authorities within McGuinness’s jurisdiction have also attacked plans for the levy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Newcastle music venue owner Kate Hodgkinson said McGuinness’s tax plans were ill-thought out, while Rothbury landlord Debbie Noble said they would put visitors off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Variations of the tourism tax already exist in parts of the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In Scotland local authorities can charge a visitor levy on overnight accommodation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For example, in Edinburgh the rate is 5% for those staying overnight in hotels, bed and breakfasts and self-catering facilities – capped at five nights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Whereas in Liverpool, visitors to some hotels must pay a \u00a32-per room overnight charge as part of a business-led scheme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In March it was revealed the levy had so far raised about \u00a310m.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The body behind the scheme pointed to the fund’s success in helping to bring events such as the Labour Party Conference and the World Chess Championships to the city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Hodgkinson, who owns Cobalt Studios in Ouseburn, said Newcastle was too quiet in the summer without its students and more needed to be done to encourage people to visit at the height of the tourist season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She said the tax plans were “counterintuitive” and instead called for the mayor to put up taxes on empty buildings in the city to fund a boost of local tourism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"CobaltCobalt Studios<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Kate Hodgkinson said the Mayor’s plans were “counterintuitive”<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Noble, who runs the The Turks Head Inn in Rothbury, said she hated McGuinness’s plans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Edinburgh is not Rothbury,” she said. Noble said the village often had few tourists during the week and charging those customers more would just mean they headed elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She said if McGuinness wanted to boost tourism to cities like Newcastle and Sunderland, then it should be tourists to those cities that paid the tax rather than rural visitors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Andrew Golding, who runs the venue the Point in Sunderland, said tourists needed to be given more of a reason to visit the region before they were charged extra.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said he welcomed plans to attract more large events to the area but that alone was not enough.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“A major event attracting thousands of people doesn’t automatically mean those visitors spend money in local pubs, restaurants or grassroots music venues,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"CobaltCobalt Studios<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
More needs to be done to attract tourists to the region, venue owners said<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Meanwhile Sam Booth, from the music venue Lubber Fiend in Newcastle, said they did not necessarily have an issue with taxing tourists if the money raised was spent properly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“A fraction of the money they [the mayor and local authorities] spent on the Mercury Prize would guarantee our survival for 10 years,” he said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“And I would argue that we would have a much more tangible impact on local music and the local economy over that time.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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‘Jobs guarantee’<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In September four Reform UK-led councils in north-east England \u2013 Durham, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland \u2013 wrote to McGuinness arguing against her plans to introduce the tax.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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They said: “Making the North East more expensive at the checkout risks driving visitors, spending and jobs to neighbouring regions.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Earlier this month, Durham County Council’s deputy leader Darren Grimes called McGuinness a “megalomaniac” after she detailed the council pushback she had faced in a regional mayor’s meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In response McGuinness said the fee would be used to “fund major events” in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I guarantee this will create jobs and bring in thousands of tourists,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She also said several other parts of the country were planning to bring in the levy which would mean they would have more money to promote tourism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I am not prepared to let the North East slip behind while others take our visitors,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow BBC North East on <\/i>X<\/i>, <\/i>Facebook<\/i>, <\/i>Nextdoor<\/i> and <\/i>Instagram<\/i>. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c3vgxlgn1rnlo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/a087\/live\/54b46ac0-95f9-11ef-8e2e-e71633ffe5ec.jpg”] Duncan Hutt Rothbury did not attract as many tourists as Edinburgh, one hotel owner said Hotels and music venues have hit out a mayor’s plans to introduce a tourism tax. In September, the government confirmed plans to allow local leaders to introduce a levy targeted at tourists staying in hotels, bed and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2229919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2229919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2229919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2229919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2229919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2229919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}