Tasmanian short-stay operators say a proposed 5% accommodation levy could push the real cost to travellers closer to 10% and drive owners out of the market.
Moxxi Short Stay Accommodation managing director Lauren Heys, who stood alongside Labor’s shadow tourism minister Anita Dow to speak out against the levy, manages just under 190 properties from Wynyard to Hobart.
“I think this levy is a terrible decision. It will have a massive impact on our business and the revenue that our owners will generate,” Heys said.
She said the government’s claim that guests would simply wear the extra cost did not reflect how the industry operates.
“As a management company, it’s our job to maximise the revenue of our owners. And if we could get another 5%, we would be getting another 5%,” she said.
Heys said the levy would apply to gross bookings, including cleaning fees and platform charges from Booking.com, Airbnb and Vrbo, pushing the real impact closer to 10%.
She said occupancy was already sliding, with her properties typically running at about 75% at this time of year, but some areas had dropped to 55% as cost-of-living and fuel pressures bite.
She warned the squeeze would flow through to staff and contractors, particularly in remote areas.
Heys said short stays serve a different market to hotels, supporting families, medical travellers from King and Flinders islands and longer corporate stays.
“A single mother can’t split themselves across two hotel rooms,” she said.
She said some owners bought in Tasmania planning to retire there later and weaker returns could push them to sell or invest interstate.
Dow said the tax would hit the sector at the worst possible time, with operators already facing uncertainty from global fuel security concerns.
She said tourism employs one in six Tasmanians and is a critical pillar of the regional economy.
“It’s the wrong time and it’s the wrong tax for this time in Tasmania,” Dow said.
“We’ve been very clear right from the beginning that we do not support the short-stay levy that’s being proposed by the state government.”
Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania chief executive Amy Hills earlier this week backed the call to scrap the levy, saying it would knock operator confidence when the sector could least afford it.
Airbnb has also urged the government to delay the levy, warning it could undermine Tasmania’s 2030 visitor economy strategy to more than double annual visitor spending beyond $5 billion.
Treasurer Eric Abetz has previously defended the levy, saying it will be paid overwhelmingly by interstate and overseas travellers.
