Manchester is a city of firsts. The atom was split in 1917 at the University, the world’s first free library opened in 1653, and McDonald’s opened its first UK drive-through in Fallowfield in 1986.
There’s another first to add to the list: the first UK city with a tourist tax. From April 1, overnight guests in city centre hotels and aparthotels will pay £1 per night per room.
Officially called the ‘City Visitor Charge’, the projected £3 million in annual takings will be used to fund a new organisation — the Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID).
With the new charge coming soon, and nearly 6,000 hotel rooms coming to Greater Manchester over the next few years, Annie Brown, the first chair of the ABID, says it’s a smart move — even during a harsh economic winter.
“I think [the message it sends] has been a consideration, however when you compare it to European cities that have had taxes and visitor levies in place for a number of years, we feel it’s a small amount comparatively,” the hotelier told the Manchester Evening in an exclusive interview this week. “There are other cities in the UK looking to put in place what Manchester has done, I don’t think it’s a charge that’s off-putting.
“It’s projected to make about £3 million annually and that will fund the ABID and we will get the attractions, and cleaning, and deliver against our business plan. It’s going to be the largest accommodation BID outside of central London in terms of the revenue it generates.”
Manchester already has a BID for the city centre — CityCo — but that is geographic, not industry-related. So, what will the ABID do?
Broadly, its ‘purpose is to increase tourism and overnight stays to the city’, Annie explains. “I think it’s widely known we have an ever-increasing number of hotels opening, so it’s ever-more-important that we’re self-sustaining that growth and make it the place to come.
“There’s a number of ways of doing that, and the biggest two are around city events in ‘shoulder periods’ — i.e. lower periods in the calendar — and attracting big events to the city.
“It might be large sporting, music, or conference events. We’re aware that we’re not just bidding against other UK cities, but other large cities around the world.”
A result of collaboration between the hospitality sector and the council, the drive will essentially provide cash to promote the city and make it more tourist friendly, generating more growth.
Annie continues: “I think we’ve got amazing bedroom stock, and more coming, so we can cater for these big city events — and we have the new Co-op Live arena coming, and the Factory, so we’re catering for all different events. We have something for everyone.”
The challenge, therefore, is to ‘shout about that more widely’, and improve what it’s like to visit the 'second city'. Some of that is doing the basics right, Annie says, like doing more street cleaning around the 73 businesses in the club, and by employing more visitor guides to help people get to where they need to go at big transport hubs, like Piccadilly Station.
Even with a tough financial outlook, Annie remains convinced that ‘there’s never been a better time’ to holiday in Mancunia. “Ultimately, even though I’m not from Manchester, I feel so passionately about Manchester, what better thing is there to be involved in — bringing Manchester to the world,” Brown, who is the general manager of Hampton by Hilton in the Northern Quarter, adds.
Annie is Australian, but came to the UK in 1997. She only moved to Manchester in 2019, but quickly fell in love with it.
“It’s my favourite city I’ve worked in, in the UK, because it’s such an exciting, dynamic and vibrant city, that it’s great from a work and leisure perspective,” she goes on. “Manchester has so much choice on every level, there’s never been a better time to visit us.”
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