Cruise Ship Levy: consultation analysis

9. Exemptions

Chapter 9 analyses responses to questions about exemptions to any cruise ship levy.

Q11. Should any of the following groups be granted exemptions from payment of a cruise ship levy? Please choose yes, no, or don’t know for each potential exemption below.

Q11 consisted of a series of questions, each about a specific group, with respondents asked whether a potential exemption should be in place for each group. The table below shows the response to each iteration of Q11 among those answering (n=). A full table for each iteration, including sub-group analysis, is appended. For ease of comparison, the table has been ordered from highest to lowest support for exempting each group.

The highest support was for potentially exempting crew members from any levy, with 68% in favour of this approach and 24% opposed. A majority of individuals (64%) and organisations (75%) were in favour of this exemption, as were a majority of most types of organisations, except for ‘other’ organisations. This included all cruise industry respondents and 88% of harbours and ports in favour.

Views on whether passengers disembarking at the final port of call should be exempt were more mixed, with 46% of those answering in favour of exempting this group, 42% opposed and 12% unsure. The highest level of support was recorded among cruise industry respondents (92%), and the highest opposition was recorded by local authorities (73%).

At least half of those answering opposed exempting other groups. Half (50%) opposed exempting passengers who are paid carers, 54% opposed exempting passengers aged 18 or under, and 55% opposed exempting passengers who are disabled. For these three exemptions, a similar pattern was seen across sub-groups:

• Organisations were more in favour of exemptions than individuals
• Cruise industry respondents and tourism-related respondents were more likely to support exempting these groups. For example, 71% of tourism-related respondents and 85% of cruise industry respondents were in favour of exempting passengers who are 18 or under.
• Local authorities and harbours and ports were more likely to oppose exempting these groups. For example, 56% of harbours and ports and 64% of local authorities opposed exempting passengers who are disabled.

At Q14, one respondent called for exempting small boats with a capacity of less than 10.

Q12. If national exemptions are introduced, do you think local authorities should be able to create additional exemptions at a local level?

Nearly half (49%) of those answering Q12 agreed that if national exemptions are introduced, then local authorities should be able to create additional exemptions at a local level. Two fifths (38%) disagreed, and 13% were unsure.

Opinion was relatively evenly split among individuals, with 44% in favour and 42% opposed. Support was higher among organisations, however, with 58% in favour and 30% opposed to this approach. Views varied by type of organisation, with 85% of cruise industry respondents in favour compared to 31% of harbours and ports. Among local authorities, 50% were in favour, 30% opposed and 20% unsure.