Cairns Council renews push for visitor levy to fund tourism promotion
Richard Dinnen - Queensland Editor |
The Cairns Regional Council will seek support from the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) for its controversial proposal to impose a levy on visitors.
Cairns mayor, Bob Manning, has been pushing the idea for over two years, but he said the decline in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic has strengthened the case.
“Visitor levies are well established and accepted throughout other parts of the world.
“In Cairns, a visitor levy of just 2.5 per cent on short term accommodation, less than the cost of a cup of coffee, would raise more than $16 million a year for destination marketing and tourism industry development.”
Currently, Queensland law does not allow local governments to impose a visitor levy.
Cairns Regional Council is lobbying to change the law and will seek support at the LGAQ annual conference in October.
Mr Manning said the money raised by the levy would be invested in promoting Cairns as a tourist destination, supporting efforts to boost visitor numbers following the pandemic slump.
“Recent visitor numbers and spend in tropical north Queensland showed that increased investment in destination marketing had a positive result.
“Through targeted campaigns and increased government investment, domestic travellers spent a record $3 billion in the year ending March 2022, up 18.8 per cent from 2019.
“That is clear evidence that increased investment and resources yield positive results.”
The LGAQ has previously indicated support specifically for the Cairns push for a visitor levy but said it did not support a wider implementation in other Queensland regions.
There’s been mixed reaction to the proposal in the far north Queensland tourism industry.
Some operators say revenue from the levy could help rebuild the local industry, but others fear the extra cost to visitors would become just another reason to go elsewhere.
