Proposed Visitor Tax On Overnight Stays In England

Ministers want to make property investors and landlords responsible for collecting a new visitor tax on overnight stays across England.

Treasury Secretary Dan Tomlinson and Local Government Minister Alison McGovern have launched a 12-week consultation introducing the visitor tax - a Budget 2025 measure almost lost in the small print of a welter of documents issued by the Treasury in the aftermath of last week's speech by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

The ministers are quick to explain that mayors must decide whether to impose the tax, which is not mandatory and will not lead to a reduction in funding from Whitehall.

McGovern said: "Local levies on overnight stays are common around the world -- giving local leaders the ability to introduce a visitor levy in their area will give them a choice to join with their international counterparts in regional and national cities including Milan, Prague, New York, Paris, and in other parts of the UK."

However, the tax has opposing aims. Mayors gain more power and extra cash to invest locally, but also aims any improvements paid for by the tax will attract more visitors, despite making overnight visits more expensive.

Stays that qualify for the visitor tax

The visitor tax will apply to every stay that is a 'commercial let' of short-term accommodation. The money will be collected by accommodation providers, such as landlords and property investors.

The property list where visitors must pay the tax covers:

• Hotels
• Bed and breakfasts
• Guesthouses
• Hostels and bunkhouses
• Campsites and caravan parks
• Self-catering properties, like. cottages, apartments and short-term lets
• Serviced apartments, aparthotels, and holiday lodges
• Glamping sites, such as yurts, shepherd huts and pods
• University halls or student accommodation let commercially during holidays
• Commercially let religious retreat accommodation
• Accommodation in a vehicle or onboard a vessel, which is permanently or predominantly situated in one place.

The list seems to omit cruise ships docking overnight at a port.

Visitors staying with family or friends are not liable for the tax unless they are paying a commercial rate for their stay.

How much could a visitor tax raise?

Ministers have not set a start date for charging visitor tax, but it's unlikely to be before April 2027.

How much the visitor tax could raise depends on the nightly charge, whether it's per person or per room, paid by British as well as international visitors, whether the charge applies to children and whether the charge is per night or per trip.

Official data suggests visitors from abroad spent 250 million overnight stays in England.

At £1 a night per visitor, the tax raises £250 million, although the final tally is expected to be much less.

The Office for National Statistics has split the data into regions and how much each could raise from the tax:

Region	Estimated tourist tax
London	£116.6 million
South East	£38.4 million
North West	£21.3 million
South West	£19.1 million
East of England	£18.2 million
West MIdlands	£14.6 million
Yorkshire & Humber	£9.7 million
East Midlands	£8.9 million
North East	£3.4 million
England	£249.9 million

Source: ONS

Read and respond to the Visitor Levy Consultation online. The consultation closes on February 18, 2026.