Operator musters opposition to bed tax
A QUEENSTOWN accommodation operator is mobilising opposition to Mayor Jim Boult’s campaign for a bed tax.
Nik Kiddle fears the mayor’s idea of taxing visitors $10 per bed per night to fund infrastructure will drive visitors away from commercial accommodation and maybe away from Queenstown altogether.
On Monday’s TV/radio The AM Show, broadcast from Queenstown, Mr Boult suggested $10 a night — based on about 4.5 million commercial accommodation visitor nights — would raise about $45 million a year.
‘‘If $10 puts you off coming here, then maybe we don’t want that particular tourist,’’ he said.
Mr Kiddle, however, who coowns Villa del Largo, said a family of six would be forced to pay an extra $60 a night, or an extra $420 for a week’s holiday.
Instead, he believed the mayor should push the Government to rebate 10% to 15% of the GST generated each year by international visitors to Queenstown — about $332.4 million at last count.
Mr Boult declined to comment to the Otago Daily Times..
He cited the ‘‘libellous’’ content of a covering letter Mr Kiddle and his wife, Charlotte Mill, sent to other accommodation operators to try to rally their support. Mr Boult also threatened defamation action against the couple, Mr Kiddle said.
In his ‘‘open letter’’ to Mr Boult, Mr Kiddle said: ‘‘Adding a new layer of tax to those offering accommodation will raise prices and drive tourists away. It will push more visitors into the informal sector and into the freedom camping market.
‘‘It will increase the price differential between us and alternative accommodation centres, diverting overnight stays away from our district.’’
Mr Kiddle argued it was unfair only one subsector should stump up when all businesses in tourist hot spots like Queenstown benefited from tourism.
‘‘Tourists spend only 14% of their New Zealand holiday money on accommodation. Taxing 14% of the spend is missing a much wider opportunity.’’
He said his preference for funding infrastructure from a slice of the huge GST take was also favoured by about 80% of Tourism Industry Aotearoa members.
Less than a day after contacting other operators, 13 had signalled their support, Mr Kiddle said.
Asked about a bed tax, longtime local hotelier Mark Rose said: ‘‘I think that we all understand that it’s probably inevitable that something will happen if the Government legislates for it.’’
However, he believed the tax should be equitable so it also applied to Airbnb operators, for example.
‘‘If we’re going to do a bed tax, it’s got to be for everybody.’’
He would also appreciate if his sector could have some input into the discussions.
An Australian business owner who regularly stays at Villa del Lago with his family, who asked not to be named, said the tax would be a ‘‘kick in the guts’’.
‘‘It’s not cheap to stay in Queenstown to start with, let alone the price of food and everything else.
‘‘There is that much competition these days that it would be quite difficult for business owners to try to compete with everyone.’’ — Additional reporting Joshua Walton