Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2025
The Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2025 (“the 2025 Act”) will give local authorities in Wales the power to charge a levy on overnight visitors staying in visitor accommodation in their area. The levy will be discretionary in nature, as it will be for local authorities to decide whether to introduce it, following consultation with their communities and local businesses. The 2025 Act gives the Welsh Revenue Authority the responsibility to collect and manage the visitor levy on behalf of local authorities.
The 2025 Act also requires that the Welsh Revenue Authority establish a national register of visitor accommodation providers in Wales that will include information on the visitor accommodation types and the locations that they operate across Wales. The Welsh Revenue Authority can make information held on the register publicly available.
The Explanatory Notes to the 2025 Act provide detailed commentary on the various provisions.
Coming into force
Section 67 makes provision for the coming into force of the 2025 Act.
Parts 1 and 3 (including Part 2 of Schedule 2) and Part 4 came into force on 19 September 2025 (the day after Royal Assent).
Part 2 (including Part 1 of Schedule 2), and Chapter 1 of Part 4 as it applies in relation to the register under Part 2, come into force on a day appointed by the Welsh Ministers in an order made by Welsh statutory instrument. The following Order has been made:
The Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2025 (Commencement) Order 2025
Subordinate legislation made under the Act
Any subordinate legislation made under the 2025 Act will be added when that subordinate legislation is made.
Consideration of the legislation by the Senedd
The Bill was introduced to the Senedd on 25 November 2024 by Mark Drakeford MS, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language. It was passed by the Senedd on 8 July 2025 and received Royal Assent on 18 September 2025.
More information about the 2025 Act is provided on the Senedd website including a record of the Bill’s passage through the Senedd.
An Explanatory Memorandum was originally prepared for consideration by the Senedd alongside the Bill. This has now been revised and updated to reflect the final form of the 2025 Act.
Related articles and information
The Welsh Revenue Authority (“WRA”) collects and manages the visitor levy on behalf of local authorities that have implemented the levy in their area. Section 24A of the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016 (“the 2016 Act”) sets out the WRA’s duties in relation to any levy proceeds collected on behalf of a local authority, including that the WRA must pay the proceeds to a local authority but only after it has deducted its costs and disbursements. Section 24A(5) of the 2016 Act provides the Welsh Ministers with a power to makes regulations dealing with the deduction of the WRA’s costs and disbursements including a power to limit any deductions. The Welsh Ministers exercised this power in the Tax Collection and Management (Visitor Levy Costs) (Wales) Regulations 2026, which limit the deductions that the WRA can make to either 10% of the levy proceeds for a local authority’s area or a lower equal percentage for all local authorities if a 10% deduction for each local authority would result in deductions, when aggregated for all local authorities, exceeding the WRA’s total visitor levy operating costs.