Ministers plan to kill off capital’s tourist tax

THE Scottish Government has moved to kill off plans for a ‘tourist tax’ to be imposed in Edinburgh.

Tourism Secretary Fiona Hyslop said the proposed scheme ‘doesn’t make sense’ and ‘smarter’ alternatives would have to be found as Scots already pay the second highest VAT rates in Europe.

Her comments came only weeks after a survey by the Federation of Small Businesses found four in five small firms in Scotland were against any form of tourism tax.

It also found 88 per cent of tourism firms were opposed.

But several of Edinburgh’s leading cultural venues and arts organisations have previously backed the idea. The city council has been leading calls for some form of tax on visitors.

Speaking to Holyrood magazine, Miss Hyslop said: ‘Scotland has the second highest VAT payable for the tourism industry. In that context, trying to put extra taxation on them doesn’t make sense.

‘I agree with the cultural sector that we need more investment to help support the infrastructure in our cities, of course we do, but there are smart ways of doing it.

‘That’s what I want to do as part of my brief, to look at smart ways of getting investment we need, but do it in a way which doesn’t hammer the tourism industry.’

The capital would have become the first British destination to introduce the charge, which would see around £1 per night added to a typical hotel bill.

The city council believes up to £15million a year could be raised through the introduction of a tourist tax.