Ah, tourists. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them, sometimes we are them. Generally we all agree that tourists are annoying until we inevitably become them, and become frustrated that locals are rude to us.
The question of at which point tourists go from being an economic boon to a bit of a nuisance is loaded and complex, but unavoidable for a huge number of places.
Last year Manchester became the first place in the UK to trial a tourist tax, charging £1 per night per room for visitors staying in selected hotels in the city.
The idea of essentially taxing tourists during their visit is not new. Venice has been famously overrun with tourists to the point where no Venetians can actually afford to live or work there, which has led to the city charging day-trippers €5 to enjoy its winding canals.
Unlike Venice, Manchester isn’t trying to put you off visiting. Instead, the money raised will go towards helping the local travel and tourism industry get back…