Hotel Operator Responds to Visitor Levy Funding Announcement

Hotel operator responds to visitor levy funding announcement

The operator of a large hotel chain in New Zealand says diverting a portion of International Visitor Levy funds to councils is a good first step. If re-elected, the National Party is pledging to allocate $385 million over four years to councils, the portion each council gets will depend on the number of international visitors they host. Councils would have to use the money for things like events, tourism promotion, and visitor infrastructure. The announcement was made at Auckland's Sudima Hotel yesterday, after criticism from mayors over National's u-turn on investigating an accommodation levy in 2027. The hotel's New Zealand operating officer Les Morgan was at that announcement, and spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

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National has announced a new policy to share revenue from the International Visitor Levy with councils, as an alternative to the bed tax it previously promised to explore.

International Visitor Levy Reset To Keep Taxes Low

Tourism is New Zealand’s second-largest export earner and a key driver of economic growth, jobs and higher incomes,” National’s Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis says.

National promises to use international visitor levy to replace bed tax proposal

National says it will direct almost $400 million over four years from international visitor levy revenue to councils to assist with tourism spending as the...

National backtracked on a bed tax, so here's what it's offering councils instead

On Tuesday, Luxon announced a new plan to fund councils that hosted a lot of tourists.