Cornwall’s tourism chief is warning that tourists could be charged when visiting the seaside

Cornwall’s tourism boss has warned holidaymakers that they could “definitely imagine” a tourist tax being implemented in the near future.

More than four million people visit Cornwall for a holiday each year, while another 12 million make day trips, according to a local council report.

Malcolm Bell, chief executive of Visit Cornwall, has now voiced his support for a “Cornish tax” to capitalize on these visits.

“This is the time to have debates, take your time to act, interact with people and look at the art of the possible,” he told local media. Cornwall Live.

It comes after Venice in Italy became the first city in the world to introduce a tourist tax to reduce the crowds that crowd its canals.

Simone Venturini, the councilor responsible for tourism and social cohesion, said the scheme would help Venice find “a new balance”. But the €5 charge prompted hundreds of people to protest against what they saw as a move to turn Venice into a “theme park”.

Mr Bell says a Cornwall tax should be applied in tandem with neighboring Devon to avoid forcing tourists out of Cornwall. “There’s no point in Devon not having one and us having one,” he said.

But the levy must be used to directly fund local businesses, he said, rather than going back to the Treasury under normal levies. He noted that the UK is already one of the highest taxed visitor economies in Europe, second only to France, but that this money is not flowing back into the local economy.

“The normal argument would be that we need a distribution of money that already goes to Her Majesty’s Treasury to go back to local levels instead,” he said.

He believes tourists would be happy to pay the tax if they knew the money would go back into the local economy.

“We have 85% repeat business in Cornwall – tourists who return regularly would like the tax to help Cornwall and its residents,” he said. “If tourists want to contribute, if they think it’s going to the right cause, I wouldn’t mind.”

The fact that Cornwall is such a popular destination also suggests a desire for well-maintained local environments, he said, which is a further argument for a levy that helps protect the region’s natural beauty and wildlife.

“People are cynical and want reassurance that their extra pay is going towards something appropriate,” he said. “But what if it’s just another tax on top of VAT and duty? That’s probably not what people want to see.”

Cornwall Council has launched a councilor-led inquiry aimed at improving the benefits of tourism all year round, while supporting local people with well-paid jobs and community services.

Some of the ideas put forward at a council meeting in January included urging the government to stagger school holidays and introducing a registration scheme for Airbnb-style short-term holiday lets.

Another was a tourist tax, Councilor Mike Thomas, a former teacher, called for the option to be taken more seriously.