Edinburgh’s £2 a night tourist tax

EDINBURGH is a step closer to being the first UK city to charge a tourist tax after the move was approved by councillors.

The so-called planned ‘transient visitor levy’ centres around a £2-per-night fee added to the price of any room for the first week of a stay.

City councillors backed the idea by 43 votes to 15 and the authority will now put its recommendations to ministers and MSPs to have the final say.

Council leader Adam McVey said: ‘My expectation is that this will be a locallyrun, collected and set tax. It will be additional to other revenues. My mind is absolutely clear – this is additional to our resources in this city.’

The authority estimates that the proposals could raise between £11.6million and £14.6million per year. But opponents such as UK Hospitality claim it would be bad for price-competitiveness.