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UKH Hospitality Scotland has called for a limit on the number of nights a visitor levy can be charged in Scotland to avoid the “real risk” of losing tourists.
In May the Scottish Parliament published a ‘tourist tax’ bill that would give local councils the power to impose a levy on overnight accommodation.
This would include hotels, self-catering properties and campsites, with rates based on a percentage of the cost and set by each individual council.
The City of Edinburgh Council has suggested a charge of between 4-7% for visitors to the city.
UKH has called on MSP’s to make it so that the levy can only be applied for a maximum of five nights in the same accommodation.
It has also called for a legislative commitment that revenue raised through a levy be used solely for the development and support of tourism-related services.
The response from UKH comes as the consultation on the Visitor Levy (Scotland) by the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee came to an end.
Leon Thompson, UKHospitality Scotland executive director, said: “Some of the proposals for the visitor levy are incredibly worrying, with major implications for competitiveness and costs for our businesses charged with collecting and administering the scheme.
“With no upper limit on the charge or ring-fencing of funds in legislation, there is a real risk that the introduction of a levy could see the costs to visitors spiral, reduce investment by accommodation businesses and hit the wider visitor economy.”
He added: “Not only will visitors be paying substantially more in destinations like Edinburgh under current proposals, but businesses may also see a decline in visitor numbers as a consequence.
“It is essential that as MSPs scrutinise the Bill they respond to the very real concerns of our businesses, recommend the introduction of a cap, ensure that the Bill provides certainty on ringfencing net revenue for tourism activities and stipulate that provision be made for businesses to recover their costs from implementing a visitor levy scheme.”
