Bournemouth becomes first UK resort to tax tourists for staying there as hotel owners approve £34 fee for a family of four spending a week

Bournemouth has become the first seaside resort in the UK to introduce a 'tourist tax' as business owners voted to approve measures which will see a family of four charged an extra £34 for a week's stay. Hotel owners this week narrowly voted to charge visitors an extra £2.40 room, per night to stay in the Dorset seaside towns of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch. Visitors to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole will pay an extra £2.40 per person, per night from July This marks the first time a British seaside resort has brought in a 'tourist tax' on overnight stayers Large hotels across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole will all charge holidaymakers Taxes considered by local authorities across the UK could set back a family of four up to £280 for a week's holiday The Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole Accommodation Business Improvement District, a board made up of hoteliers and other tourism chiefs, is behind the scheme. Local councillors are discussing the possibility of bringing in a 'Tourism Tax' for visitors to towns in Cornwall such as St Ives In Tenby, holidaymakers may soon have to pay an additional levy as Wales looks to introduce legislation to charge overnight tourists Councillors in Margate have touted the idea of bringing in a tourist tax, although it is unknown how much it would be set at Holidaymaker Gill Thomson, from Croydon, south London, said: 'It may not sound a lot of money to pay but when you are already spending a couple of hundred pounds on your holiday and then all the spending money it makes it feel like we are being rinsed for even more.'