Hospitality NZ supports a cohesive plan

Hospitality New Zealand supports a cohesive plan for accommodation providers

In recent months there has been increasing discussions around so-called “bed taxes”, and the various proposals local councils are considering around targeted rates that will affect commercial accommodation providers.

To date, the spotlight has been mainly on accommodation providers in Queenstown and Auckland, however the issue is far reaching and nation-wide, and is one that Hospitality New Zealand has long been raising with MPs, local authorities and others – through submissions and face to face meetings.

In concert with the majority of our members, Hospitality New Zealand maintains there should be a cohesive, carefully constructed, financially prudent and sustainable nation-wide approach to the issue of visitor accommodation regulations and infrastructure funding, rather than the ad-hoc approaches we are seeing from individual councils.

Chief Executive Vicki Lee said that where regions propose to collect extra revenue from accommodation providers, the proposals need to take in the entire accommodation sector, and be structured in an equitable way.

“Infrastructure funding needs to be shared fairly across everyone that will benefit from it. All tourists should be contributing to this. A carefully considered nation-wide approach is fairer, and also allows for greater allocation for areas that have large numbers of visitors passing through, but a small number of rate payers.”

Hospitality New Zealand urges Government to properly research and review the accommodation landscape in New Zealand, and ensure that all providers are contributing to, rather than negatively affecting a variety of outcomes - including the availability of housing for residents and the long-term rental market.

Vicki Lee also said there should be a ‘level playing field’ when it comes to taxing accommodation providers across New Zealand.

“We accept that peer-to-peer accommodation platforms such as Airbnb are an embedded and significant part of the accommodation landscape, but currently few of those providers are subject to targeted levies, commercial rates or compliance requirements that are applied to commercial accommodation providers. Airbnb has already said they are willing to pay their fair share of taxes, and they do so at many locations overseas,” she said.

In a recent submission to MBIE on the proposed International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy Hospitality New Zealand iterated its opposition to targeted rates solely on commercial accommodation providers and stressed that there needs to be a nation-wide structure put in place for regional and national tourism infrastructure.

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