Tourist tax magic

Edinburgh and Scotland are a fantastic tourist attraction. The Scottish Tourism Alliance state that over 60 per cent of all overseas visitors have a stay in Edinburgh. Edinburgh accounts for 26 per cent of all tourists to Scotland.

Edinburgh created this stimulus with its International Festival of 1947 which immediately spawned a ‘Fringe’.

Edinburgh’s Festivals in terms of ticketing are on a par with the Fifa World Cup every year. The city has created all year round tourism with its Festivals, which is why our hotels had 92 per cent occupancy in August last year.

The funding to make this happen is increasingly difficult to come by with Edinburgh receiving the lowest settlement since devolution in its budget set last week.

Something has to give to keep the magic happening and a tourist tax has that potential. Funding from this tax would help Festival programming and if sufficient in quantity also has the potential for infrastructure improvements around key venues including hotels.

On a visit to Bologna last year we paid a levy of 1 Euro per night for our stay and in Florence it was 1 Euro 50 cents. This did not prevent us choosing our hotels or our cities as it was the offer of both combined that influenced our decision.

Funding from a tourist tax would be used to keep the competitive edge Edinburgh has built since 1947 with its year round Festival offer benefitting yes the city economy but also our hotels.

A modest tax collected, administered and spent in Edinburgh for Edinburgh would maintain the worldleading competitive edge built since 1947. CLLR GORDON MUNRO City Chambers, Edinburgh