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Tourism can put enormous pressure on cities and their council services, which is why a new tax is being considered at tourist hotspots in the UK. Tourist taxes of this kind were first levied in Rome in 2011. Now, hundreds of European tourist destinations have followed suit, charging between fifty cents and five Euros per person per night. The Scottish government say they won’t allow it, but the English government have said it may let Birmingham charge a visitors tax to help pay for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Bath and North-East Somerset want to be first – they have over two million visitors sleeping over in the city’s guest houses and hotels each year. Peter White reports.

First broadcast on You & Yours, 3 August 2018.