Tourist Taxes for Public Realm Conservation in Bath: A Stakeholder Analysis

Tourist taxes have been used at heritage sites to maintain the symbiotic relationship between tourism and heritage. However, local authorities in the UK do not have the power to directly implement tourist taxes, leading to political debate. Bath is one of the UK cities interested in the use of tourist taxes for conservation and improving its public realm, and the research seeks to present a systematic overview of the problem situation and stakeholder analysis, mapped in a power-interest matrix. From this work, it was found the relationship between the Bath local authority and lobbying parties, businesses, tourists, and residents already has a strong basis for continued collaboration. However, the one-sided relationship between the government and local authorities means that lobbying for tourist taxes will need to continue, or alternative methods to implement tourist taxes will be needed. Despite the challenges, Bath demonstrates examples of beneficial stakeholder collaboration that should be continued and built on.