Wales’ £1.30-a-night tourism tax plan is given go-ahead

STAYING overnight in Wales will get a little more expensive from 2027 after the country’s new visitor levy - dubbed a tourist tax - was green-lighted last week.

- Andrew Forgrave

The levy is the first local tax for more than 500 years to have been designed and legislated in Wales.

In two years time, anyone staying in hotels or Airbnbs will have £1.30 per night added to the cost of their stays - plus VAT in many cases.

People overnighting in hostels and on campsite pitches will pay 80p per night. The earliest the levy can be introduced will be in April 2027.

With Plaid Cymru’s support for the Bill, it was voted through with 37 Senedd Members in support, 13 against and no abstentions.

The Welsh Conservatives immediately vowed to scrap the tax if the party wins the 2026 Senedd election. They warned an unlimited levy premium could be added by councils, further inflating costs.

In the Senedd last week, North Wales Tory MS Sam Rowlands said the tax was “bad for Wales and bad for the Welsh tourism sector”. His party was accused by finance secretary Mark Drakeford of trying to “catastrophise this very modest measure”.

"You really would think that nobody would ever travel to a holiday destination in Wales again," he told the meeting.