One of Australia's peak accommodation groups has recommended to the Federal Govt that online travel agents should pay a levy to support tourism marketing.

The Accommodation Association of Australia, which recently lobbied against a proposed hotel bed tax for its members on the Gold Coast, also suggested that a special tax should be considered for foreign owned websites such as Expedia and Airbnb.
 
The comments were contained in a submission made by AAA to this year's budget process which argued that online travel agent make a lot of money out from selling hotel rooms but basically gave nothing back to the industry.
 
"They make limited direct contributions to the industry, which is in direct contrast to, for example, major airlines, which regularly commit to co-operative tourism marketing initiatives," the submission says.
 
"At a time when the financial environment for the federal government is extremely tight, there is an opportunity for the government to generate additional revenue for tourism from online travel agencies by establishing a taxation regime for them.
 
"Under such a regime, if an online travel agency operates from within Australia, then it should pay a levy or tax which could be used to bolster funding for tourism marketing through Tourism Australia.

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