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July, 2018 The Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) is urging CentralGovernment to consider its proposed International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVCTL) concurrently with the QLDCs case that a law change is required to enable a Local Visitor Levy for high-visitor growth areas. The Council has acknowledged Central Government for working through options to meet the complex challenges for funding visitor infrastructure but is also strongly advocating that the proposed contestable IVCTL will not go far enough to meet the quantum of the challenge facing the district. We have been very clear with what the picture looks like for QLDC. We took the initiative to take a very strategic approach to our investment needs to meet the challenge of visitor growth in the shape of a detailed business case analysis formulated in conjunction with MBIE and have articulated that case very clearly to Ministers. This work was completed well in advance of the Provincial Funds fruition and lays out where and why QLDC requires funding for tourism infrastructure within and beyond the next ten years. We appreciate that presenting a strategic and fact-based case for funding visitor growth is quite a different proposition to funding communities to enable growth through targeted projects but this is where our funding case must be considered in a more innovative way than standing in line for a contestable fund (in the case of the Provincial Growth Fund) that is designed to induce growth rather than manage it. Our issues and potential solutions are very different from other cities in New Zealand. With a ratio of visitors to residents at 34:1 for a QLDC ratepayer base of 26,000 (with a below average salary of $51k compared with the national average of $59k) compared to the Auckland visitor ratio of 1:1, solutions for Auckland and other cities can and must be a different proposition. With the very real potential of ultimately degrading the districts resident and visitor experience it would be negligent of Council not to clearly state the need for an alternate solution to a unique set of challenges. Internationally, Local Visitor Levys (Bed Taxes) have been applied for decades in highly desirable tourism locations and the potential for this as an alternative funding mechanism is widely accepted. The models vary from a percentage-based approach to a dollar figure and clearly we have yet to work through what that could look like for QLDC. The solution will need to be shaped to ensure that our local industry consider such a levy can both be applied and work. Clearly a big piece of our work as a community will be understanding how such a fund can be applied and at what level. This is part of the work we want to partner Central Government on. QLDC has outlined in its submission on Central Governments proposed IVCTL that it is urgently seeking to work together with Central Government to pilot a Local Visitor Levy.
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+64 27 444 1104
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