Auckland Council’s original proposal faced bitter criticism from the industry experts after passing a $28 million bill for hotels, motels and backpackers.
Auckland’s Mayor, Phil Goff has responded with a modified proposal which did not include the accommodation further from the city centre, and bringing in a sliding scale of contribution – ranging from a doubling for central city hotels, to nothing for campgrounds and backpackers.
According to the proposal, the money is to be used to replace ratepayer funding spent on attracting visitors and supporting major events. This move has been criticised sharply. The experts said that it got only 10 percent of the total spend from tourists and that t should not bear the full burden of the costs.
Fair Trading Act underlays the fact that hotels and motels could not separate out the surcharge as an extra cost and would have to include it in their headline room rate, as tourism industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said. The cost should be absorbed by the businesses running commercial accommodation in Auckland.
