Editor’s Be aware: The views expressed on this commentary are solely these of the author. CNN is showcasing the work of The Dialog, a collaboration between journalists and teachers to offer information evaluation and commentary. The content material is produced solely by The Dialog.

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In April 2024, Venice started its controversial experiment to cost day trippers €5 ($5.40) to go to town on among the busiest days of the yr. However it’s not simply the lagoon metropolis, with its 30 million guests a yr, which is all in favour of attempting out new tourism taxes.

Within the UK, a council within the county of Kent has advisable introducing a tourism tax on in a single day stays within the county. In Scotland, it appears seemingly that guests to Edinburgh can be paying a charge by 2026, and the Welsh authorities plans to introduce comparable laws later this yr.

There are greater than 60 locations all over the world the place such a tax is already in place. These range from a nationwide tax in Iceland to numerous cities throughout the US. Some have been in place for a very long time (France was the first in 1910), however most have been launched over the past decade or two.

Earlier than the pandemic actually struck (and tourism was placed on maintain), 2020 was described by one newspaper because the “yr of the vacationer tax,” as Amsterdam joined an ever-growing checklist of locations, which incorporates Paris, Malta and Cancun, to cost guests for merely visiting.

Introducing these vacationer taxes has usually been controversial, with trade our bodies voicing considerations concerning the potential impacts on the vacationer commerce.

And it seems that the hyperlink between such levies and customer numbers is just not easy, with a number of research reaching completely different conclusions. For instance, some have instructed that tourism levies have hindered worldwide tourism within the Balearics and the Maldives, and that they might dissuade folks from taking part in home tourism.

But in one of many world’s hottest tourism spots with a levy, Barcelona, customer numbers have persistently risen, with resort visitors growing from 7.1 million in 2013 to 9.5 million in 2019.

In truth, the connection between a customer levy and vacationer movement is so advanced that there is no such thing as a unified view, even throughout the similar nation. Italy has been probably the most studied, and outcomes are inconsistent there too.

One other examine, taking a look at three neighbouring Italian seaside spots finds that solely in a single vacation spot has the customer levy diminished vacationer movement. And a examine on the Italian cities of Rome, Florence and Padua exhibits that these cities haven’t skilled any unfavorable results both when it comes to home or worldwide demand.

So the affect of tourism taxes on customer numbers is inconclusive.

However what about different results, such because the potential advantages of spending the revenues raised? As a part of an ongoing analysis undertaking, we checked out seven completely different locations through which vacationer taxes are levied to have a look at how the cash raised is then spent.

For many locations, tourism tax revenues have been getting used to fund advertising and marketing and branding – so invested immediately into selling extra tourism. The earnings was additionally generally used to fund tourism infrastructure, from public bogs and strolling or biking paths to a multi-billion greenback conference centre in Orange County, Florida.

In the Balearics, revenues are inclined to go to initiatives that mitigate the unfavorable impacts of tourism on the setting, tradition and society of the islands. These embrace waste administration, conserving pure habitats and historic monuments, and social housing.

However generally, tourism taxes have been applied efficiently throughout the locations we checked out, and there may be little proof of vacationers being delay from visiting.

Analysis additionally means that when vacationers are instructed what the levy is used for – and when it relates on to enhancing their expertise or enhancing sustainable tourism – vacationers are keen to just accept and pay the levy.

For a lot of tourism locations, the foremost drawback is just not in a single day vacationers, however quite day guests who use native sources whereas making little in the way in which of a monetary contribution. For these causes, taxes may additionally be used to discourage day visits and as an alternative encourage longer stays.

Venice is on the forefront of this shift. And in April 2024, after lengthy discussions between the native authority, residents and enterprise homeowners, Venice began a trial of a day customer tax (a so-called “entry charge.”)

Again in Kent, it could take longer for any such radical plans to return to fruition. In distinction to Scotland and Wales, there are presently no nationwide plans to introduce vacationer taxes in England.

This is perhaps thought of shortsighted, given the dire want of many locations in England to enhance native infrastructure that vacationers depend on, together with clear bathing water and public transport. In Manchester and Liverpool, companies have applied voluntary in a single day expenses on guests, within the absence of the statutory foundation to implement obligatory levies.

Many different cities and cities will most likely observe their lead. Tourism taxes are one thing we would all have to think about budgeting for in our future journey plans, wherever we select to go to.