Tory tax raids have driven away tourists and investors, warns London Eye owner

Merlin Entertainments to roll out new pricing plan after unveiling £214m loss

The owner of Legoland and the London Eye has introduced airline-style surge pricing as it blamed Tory tax raids for driving away tourists and investors.
Merlin Entertainments has announced plans to charge visitors more during peak times in the summer holidays than at quieter periods like weekdays and the colder months.
The private equity-backed group will roll out the pricing plan at its top 20 global attractions by the end of the year, said chief executive Scott O’Neil, which includes Legoland and Alton Towers.
“If [an attraction] is in the UK, it’s August peak holiday season, sunny and a Saturday, you would expect to pay more than if it was a rainy Tuesday in March,” he told the Financial Times.
Surge pricing, which has been used by airlines for years, has become increasingly popular for hospitality and tourism operators.
Pub chains such as Stonegate and Mitchells & Butlers have recently adopted the practice, hiking prices for drinkers during busy nights.
The proposal came as Merlin, which also owns Madame Tussauds and the London Eye, unveiled a £214m loss for the year ending December 30 2023.
A £210m one-off impairment on newly constructed Legolands in South Korea and New York, which are struggling with the after-effects of Covid, was to blame.
The group said revenue increased 8pc to £2.1bn last year, with visitor numbers increasing 13pc to rise above 62 million.
Mr O’Neil also said the UK was increasingly losing out to overseas destinations as a hub for holidaymakers because of government tax changes.
Rishi Sunak abolished tax-free shopping for overseas tourists in 2020, a move that prompted anger from businesses reliant on the tourism sector.
Mr O’Neil told Bloomberg that the “tourist dollars seem to be moving elsewhere” because of the UK’s challenging tax environment.
He said it was “increasingly difficult” to build new attractions in the UK because of the tourist tax.
The group recently acquired Orlando Wheel at ICON Park in the US, and plans to replicate the success of the London Eye by renaming it the Orlando Eye.
Merlin clusters several of its attractions close to the London Eye to boost visitor numbers.
The Orlando Eye will become a similar hub for its US attractions in the area, including the Sea Life Aquarium and a Peppa Pig theme park.