Tourist tax Scotland: Heritage campaigners protest over plans to use Edinburgh tourist tax for events and festivals

Edinburgh has been accused of ‘chronic under-management’ as tourist tax plans loom

Heritage campaigners are at loggerheads with council chiefs over plans to use a proposed tourist tax to help pay for the city's major cultural festivals.

The Cockburn Association has demanded the proposed visitor levy is used to maintain the city’s "historic architecture and townscape" rather than support events like the Edinburgh International Festival, Tattoo, Fringe and Hogmanay.

The council, which hopes to be the first destination in Scotland to introduce a tourist tax, has proposed that one of its main objectives will be to “develop Edinburgh’s cultural programme to ensure it remains world leading and competitively attractive to visitors and residents”.

Edinburgh's Royal Mile during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

However, the long-running conservation charity has accused Edinburgh's tourism and events sectors of causing "considerable damage and disruption to civic life”.

It has suggested the events’ economic benefits, including an estimated £1.3 billion in annual spending from more than four million annual visitors, have been overstated, and the city suffers from "chronic under-management" of them.

Festivals Edinburgh, which represents 11 of the city’s best-known events, has called for "a clear majority" of the proceeds of the visitor levy to be ploughed back into the culture, festivals and heritage sectors. It has warned of a risk of “major negative impacts” for the city if its key “assets” are not supported.

The Cockburn Association has spoken out after festivals and events were identified as key priorities in an official consultation, which closes this week, on the Edinburgh visitor levy, which the council has suggested could generate up to £35 million a year in additional revenue.

Edinburgh hopes to become the first destination in Scotland to introduce a tourist tax. Picture: Richard Scott

The council has proposed supporting initiatives to “give the city’s cultural institutions the ability to reach everyone in the city”. It has pledged only to support events which can demonstrate “fair work” practices and how they are minimising their environmental impact.

However, in a statement on its website, the Cockburn Association said the city’s proposed visitor levy “must be used to ameliorate the impacts of over-tourism, not increase them”.

It added: “Visitor levy spend should be targeted to address the impacts of tourism on residents and the local environment. And it should be used to support the main reasons why visitors come to Edinburgh – its historic architecture and historic townscape.

"More than 70 per cent of all traditional buildings within the World Heritage Site have a critical repair need. The levy could be used to help maintain the historic fabric of the city at a time when public investment in it is falling.

The cast of A Comedy of Operas get into character ahead of their Edinburgh Festival Fringe show at the Pleasance at EICC. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

"Investing in the enhancement of civic spaces and open space should also be a primary purpose of the levy. We should be cautious about using such a levy to support commercial businesses and enterprises. This includes the festivals, who boast at being the world’s largest ticketed event.

“The tourism and event sectors in Edinburgh have caused considerable damage and disruption to civic life. Whilst we agree that they are critically important to the city, their value to the overall economy is overstated.

“Also, Edinburgh has suffered and continues to suffer from the chronic under-management of tourism and events-led tourism activities.”

Speaking at Holyrood last week, Fringe Society chief executive Shona McCarthy said: “We welcome the visitor levy as a concept and an idea. But what I’ve seen so far is an ever-growing shopping list. That concerns me.

"If we’re part of the whole attractive proposition that brings visitors to Edinburgh in the first place, there needs to be a guarantee that part of the income generated needs to come back in to help and support the cultural sector.”