Visitors to be hit by £4 a day tourist tax

Capital bid to slap an extra charge on hotel bills

EDINBURGH is set to become the first British city to levy a ‘tourist tax’, with visitors facing up to £4 a night on hotel bills.

Council chiefs have been discussing the option of charging tourists extra in a bid to raise £15million a year.

City of Edinburgh Council is still unsure how the tax would work and how much it would charge.

It has been suggested £1 per night may be added to a typical bill.

But council chiefs have said they are keen to make the new system flexible, with customers at larger hotels potentially paying up to £4 extra a night.

The tax would be applied throughout the year and raised or lowered depending on demand. This could see the levy raised during busy periods such as the festivals.

Deputy council leader Sandy Howat said introducing the charge was about improving the city.

He added: ‘It’s also about day-today living – good pavements and good roads, or extra bins to keep streets clean during the festivals. It’s about improvements to places.

‘It could be £1 or £2 per night during a quiet period, £3 or £4 when i t’s busy. The l evy could vary throughout the year.

‘It could vary in terms of who would pay it, what they would pay and when they pay. The large hotels might pay a bit extra and the small hotels a bit less or nothing.’

Council leader Andrew Burns said he was optimistic the £1billion Edinburgh funding deal from the Scottish and UK Governments – which includes the three Lothian councils, Fife and Scottish Borders – would be confirmed as ‘ongoing’ in Chancellor George Osborne’s March Budget statement.

The councils submitted a bid to the two Governments in September to secure the funding to build new housing, generate jobs and improve transport links.

As part of the deal, Edinburgh would be given the ability to set and collect a tourist tax.

Discussions between Westminster and the councils began last month, but they cannot introduce the tax without permission from the Scottish Government.

Mr Burns said: ‘It’s in the final period of negotiating the detail and we would expect finalisation in late summer or early autumn.

‘The Scottish Government has been pretty supportive so far. One of the potential powers is the hotel, or tourist, tax.’

Ministers are understood to be supportive in principle of devolving powers to the capital as part of a proposed £1billion deal.

But a bid for similar powers received a cool response in 2011 and Scottish Government officials yesterday said there were no plans to go down that route.

A VisitScotland spokesman said: ‘Value for money is a key consideration for prospective visitors to Scotland. There are concerns that a tourism tax could hinder our tourism growth and damage one of this country’s most successful areas of economic activity.

‘However, if a tourism tax were to be introduced in Edinburgh, Visit- Scotland would argue that the revenue raised should be reinvested in tourism, events and festivals.’

Scottish Tourism Alliance chairman Stephen Leckie has said: ‘We continue to resist any kind of tourist tax as we feel the industry is already taxed enough.’

Some European capitals have tourist taxes, with Paris charging up to £1.15 per person per day.

Since 2014, visitors to Berlin have been charged 5 per cent of their hotel room rate per day.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We have no plans for a bed tax or tourism levy.’