It may be known as the city of dreaming spires. But it’s more like the home of teeming streets.
Now Oxford may introduce no-tourist group zones in a bid to ease congestion.
Changes to coach parking locations could also be considered after Oxford City Council said economic growth had brought about its own ‘challenges’.
A record £2 billion was spent by seven million tourists in Oxford last year – the first time the £2 billion spending total barrier has been broken.
Oxford has a population of just 161,000 but is the seventh most visited city in the UK by tourists from overseas
Bob Price, the leader of Oxford City Council, admitted that ‘guidance on where groups can walk in larger numbers’ was being considered.
Oxford has a population of just 161,000 but is the seventh most visited city in the UK amongst tourists from overseas.
Earlier this year, the Labour-run local authority agreed to join Camden, Westminster, Bath, Birmingham, Brighton, Edinburgh and Cornwall in lobbying the Government for the power to introduce a tourism tax.
Now the Liberal Democrat group on the council has urged the authority to develop a ‘tourism policy’ – including a potential hotel tax – which could go towards infrastructure improvements and street cleaning.
Lib Dem councillor Liz Wade said the annual influx of seven million tourists – who generate about £780m for businesses, according to the city council – ‘puts a strain on the goodwill of the local population and on the fabric of the city’,
The Lib-Dems’ tourism proposals will be discussed by the council later this month. The party has asked the local authority to commission a report on introducing the tax.
The annual influx of seven million tourists generates about £780m for businesses but ‘puts a strain on the goodwill of the local population and on the fabric of the city’, said a councillor
Authorities in Amsterdam have banned residents from renting out their homes for more than 60 days a year, while officials in Majorca have considered banning AirBnB rentals in an effort to return housing to local residents.
In recent years, residents have marched in Barcelona over the privatisation of Parc Guell – a once public park where tourists can appreciate Gaudi’s designs and views across the city.
The disquiet was recorded in a 2014 documentary called Bye Bye Barcelona, in which locals complained about the negative effects of tourism and called for higher visitor taxes.
The following year, city authorities banned groups of more than 15 tourists from visiting Barcelona’s La Boqueria market at peak times.
A report published this month by tourism board Experience Oxfordshire revealed more than £2billion was spent by visitors in the county in 2016 – 41 per cent in Oxford itself.
With the opening of the new Westgate shopping centre last month, the number of visitors and amount spent is now expected to climb further still.
Mr Price admitted the city’s successful economic growth would bring about ‘challenges’.
The Liberal Democrat group on the council has urged the authority bring in a potential hotel tax, which could go towards infrastructure improvements and street cleaning.
He told the Oxford Mail: ‘The opening of Westgate and the plans for two new city centre hotels will cater better than ever for our visitors, but we will have to find better ways of handling the increase in the number of coaches and large walking groups.
‘These are the challenges that arise from our success and we are already in discussion with partners about possible solutions.’
Mr Price said those solutions could be changing the location of coach parking and guidance on where groups can walk in larger numbers.
In August, Oxford city councillor Mary Clarkson lashed out at the impact tourists were having in the city’s busiest sections.
Ahead of a visit to Edinburgh – itself swamped with visitors for the world-famous Fringe festival at the time – she tweeted that she was looking forward to a ‘brief respite from the tourist hell of our own small city of Oxford’.
The Labour councillor for Marston told her local newspaper that tourist groups and coaches needed to be tackled.
She added: ‘It would make everything better if they said, ‘you can walk two abreast. When you’re going to give a talk about Oxford, you don’t need to stand in fire exits’.
‘I am not saying, ‘don’t have tourists’. I am saying, ‘think about the other residents of the city’.’