Edinburgh to impose tourist tax despite fears of hotel owners
EDINBURGH City Council is to press ahead with plans for a tourism levy or bed tax, despite fears that it will “discriminate” against hotels.
Councillors voted to approve the concept in principle, despite a lack of clarity over who should pay and where money raised would go.
The Edinburgh Hotels Association, the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group and the British Hospitality Association had pleas to abandon moves towards a tourist tax rejected – despite warning of the damage to Edinburgh’s reputation as the city was the first in the UK to take forward such a scheme.
The local authority will now seek legal advice on what it could approve under its existing powers and ask the Scottish Government whether it could be granted new ones.
Senior councillors told tourism representatives that “the time for talking is over” and cast doubt on claims that some form of scheme would put visitors off coming to the city.
One proposal would be that visitors would be asked to pay extra on their hotel bills to help fund the city’s festivals – which many councillors support to ease the burden on the taxpayer.
An alternative is a levy scheme, on which businesses would be balloted, that would see all firms within a certain area pay extra rates, with the cash raised going to promote the city, or be ringfenced for specific campaigns or the festivals.
Hoteliers are against any scheme that singles them out – although councillors insisted it was right they were targeted as they benefited widely from events such as the Fringe and Hogmanay and had refused to sponsor high-profile events.
However, the biggest problem for the council may be the requirement to secure permission from the Scottish Government to impose any kind of scheme on the industry. A previous attempt was knocked back three years ago.
Colin Paton, chair of the Edinburgh Hotels Association, said: “It would be simply inequitable for just one sector of the industry to be singled out, as well as heavily anti-business.
“As far as we can make out, the money raised from a tourist tax, which could amount to £10 million, would simply disappear into a huge black hole.
“Tourism is everyone’s business in Edinburgh, but we must be very careful that we don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.”
Robin Worsnop, chair of the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group, added: “We are very disappointed this has been voted through, particularly as I only had a few days’ notice that it was going to be discussed.
“Our main concern is that we don’t want the customer to be negatively affected. Adding something on to every hotel bill could well influence whether people decide to come here on holiday.”
Mr Worsnop said there was some support from within the industry for a voluntary levy system, as long as it was applicable to all businesses over a certain size and not just hotels.
However, deputy council leader Steve Cardownie said: “I do believe there should be some form of levy on the city’s hotels. They have sat back while the city has invested in 12 major festivals over the years.
“The squeeze on the public purse is tighter than ever before and we need help from the private sector. We’ve been begging for that for years.”
Green councillor Steve Burgess, who won backing for a tourist tax motion, added: “I just don’t accept that asking people to pay less than the price of a cup of coffee on their bill is going to put them off.”
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Comments
There are 13 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Robina
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 09:19 PMComment removed by moderator
klaus doobie
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 07:18 PMFollowing the old socialist mantra - if it's successful then punish it. When there's nothing left to tax, lose the election & get someone else to clear up your mess. Hope electorate forget how bad you were after a decade.
Tom M.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 05:34 PMSome of the commentators here want a tax for foreigners only. That will surely endear you to the visitors that keep the city afloat... US cities have bed taxes but no one would even consider proposing to apply it only to foreigners...
insiderscoop
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 04:01 PMSo much for the new Marketing Edinburgh CEO stating that they do not favour a bed tax in Edinburgh nor want to see it, Bird is certainly not he word around the capital it seems.
Charlie McFarley
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 12:22 PMDoesn't the council extract enough tax already from hotels by way of commercial rates? Don't kill the golden goose, you fools. Edinburgh councillors, the goons who brought us the trams fiasco, demonstrating yet again that they have the wisdom of Salome.
samcoldstream
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 10:03 AMThe City of Edinburgh Council is not the only local authority in the UK that would like to introduce a US style bed tax. Many local authorities throughout England and Wales have discussed the possibility of a bed tax but have met fierce opposition from the British Hospitality Association and local Chambers of Commerce. Visit England, the England Tourist Board, has also studied similar proposals but rejected them.
Ancient Wisdom
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 09:46 AMEdinburgh must keep out all foreigners; especiallly MSPs and Weegies.
Navvy
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 09:15 AMI agree that a tax should be levied, nationally, but only until it has raised enough money to issue a national identity card to all citizens. Once we have his card we will be rid of the nonsense of having to carry a passport to prove identity and the nonsense of producing easily faked letters to prove address AND then we can charge non nationals admission to our museums and galleries. It sticks in my thrapple to see the foreign crowds in our museums and galleries in the sure knowledge that I will have to pay through the nose in China, Paris , Amsterdam and Berlin to similar access
Hector the Lessor
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 07:44 AMWell the prospect of a "tourist tax" should scare everyone. It suggests that the Edinburgh Council is convinced that their members are more than capable of encouraging tourists into the area. Well it could be a very good idea if the local companies have not yet formed an organistation to cope with this kind development, however do you really want the Edinburgh Councillors to look after your future. Mind you, they could be OK, I mean the trams were just a one off.
WJohn
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 05:24 AM“Councillors voted to approve the concept in principle, despite a lack of clarity over who should pay and where money raised would go.” Cue for a fact finding trip to see how other cities like Sydney, Honolulu, Tokyo, Singapore etc spend their money. I am sure that our councillors will find ways of spending any money they get , and you can be sure that it will be iconic. They can even spend money they haven’t got.
Ben Cleuch
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 04:39 AM"despite warning of the damage to Edinburgh’s reputation" - don't worry, the move does not damage your reputation, merely confirms it. vis "You'll have had your tea?"
The Answer
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 03:31 AMThis tax and a sum of £10 million is pie in the sky, with only 10,000 beds rooms inkl B&B's, it would need 27,000 people paying £1 each and every day 365 days a year to raise said monies.
Peripatetic Pensioner
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 01:57 AMThe levy should only be on non Scottish dwellers. This would start to bring the country slightly into line with other countries in the world, hotels first then galleries, museums and all other things that we get chrged a higher (significantlly) rate for as "foreigners" when we are travelling.than the locals who pay peanuts.
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