Tax the tourists

With all councils in Scotland having decided to increase Council Tax by the maximum 3 per cent permitted (your report, 6 March), surely it is time for the SNP to abandon their longstanding opposition and allow councils to introduce a tourist tax? Even SNP Edinburgh Council leader Adam Mcvey is in agreement, saying a tourist tax was a key part of the programme agreed by the Snp/labour coalition, having revealed the business case was almost complete, and that a consultation document is being prepared. During the election campaign, we heard from his colleagues saying the SNP locally supports a visitors’ levy, but central government was cool on the idea.

Scotland’s tourist industry is flourishing, with both Glasgow and Edinburgh airport declaring 2017 a record year for passenger numbers. Edinburgh has achieved a higher hotel room occupancy rate than any other city in the UK. Skye was said to be closed, as local hoteliers rubbed their hands with glee. A tourist or city tax is charged in Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Berlin etc, even fledgling tourist destinations such as Cape Verde, which cannot afford to see passenger numbers decline, charges tourists e2 a night. Such an amount is unlikely to kill the golden goose.

Edinburgh Council has forecast that a tourist tax could raise as much as £15 million a year – a welcome sum bearing in mind the SNP Scottish Government has again cut their funding. It really is time the SNP looked again at their “centralisation is best” and “local government is bad” policies and allowed councils to generate some extra revenue, to start to give something back to the communities who have made the industry such a success.

PHIL TATE Craiglockhart Road, Edinburgh