York and North Yorkshire propose a £1 per night visitor levy

A £1 per night visitor levy across all of York and North Yorkshire is now on the table, recommended by a report published in September 2026 for the region's Combined Authority. Nothing is decided. No English mayor can charge a visitor levy yet, no rate has been adopted, and the report's own earliest date is 2027 to 2028.

One pound, and everything else still open

The Visitor Levy Policy Report, commissioned by the Combined Authority and written by the Policy Lab at York St John University, lands on a single number: a flat £1 per night, region wide, called "the most deliverable and credible starting point" from which "rates or structures can be refined as the evidence base develops". On roughly 26 million paid accommodation nights a year, that models to about £26 million gross, £23 million to £25 million net once administration costs are factored in. In the report's foreword, Mayor David Skaith says the Combined Authority must "explore this opportunity carefully, transparently and in partnership" with residents, businesses and the sector.

Everything past that number is still open. The report "does not assume the introduction of a visitor levy" and calls one "further development rather than immediate implementation". It does not say whether £1 is charged per room or per person, listing that choice elsewhere as an unresolved "key design variable". Scope is undefined, the revenue model assumes no exemptions, and the report suggests considering a targeted exemption for low-cost accommodation such as campsites and hostels.

Where booking platforms come in

The report envisages accommodation providers as the main collection point. For short-term lets, the market "where non-compliance is most likely", it recommends engaging major booking platforms to collect and remit at the point of transaction, pointing to Barcelona and Amsterdam as examples and calling this "an early priority". No obligation on platforms is actually proposed, no platform is named, and no penalty regime appears anywhere in the document. Smaller operators would remit quarterly rather than monthly.

One piece of a bigger UK picture

This sits inside a wider UK shift. Scotland has the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024, Wales the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2025, and in November 2025 the UK Government announced it would hand English Mayoral Strategic Authorities the same power. Stakeholders warned the report about "a fragmented patchwork of different levy schemes across England", so it asks the Combined Authority to push for "a unified approach across England", while admitting full standardisation is "unlikely in the short term".

The report's own timeline describes the enabling legislation, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, as still before the House of Lords, with earliest implementation put at 2027 to 2028. A UK national consultation on visitor levies ran November 2025 to February 2026; the report notes its outcomes are not yet fully published. Comparable schemes elsewhere allowed 12 to 18 months between legislative approval and the first charge.

What we're watching

We track visitor levy developments across the UK, ...so a confirmed rate here reaches connected platforms without a development cycle. Take a look at Trippz for Platforms to see how Trippz handles new levies as they are confirmed.