Readers' Letters: Exorbitant tourist tax will deter visitors and harm hospitality sector

D Mitchell (Letters, 25 January) describes criticism of the visitor levy as bluster, saying he has visited many, many cities overseas where a levy is in place and is has not deterred him. Perhaps that is because the levy in many places is perhaps £1 per night – not high enough to deter visitors but bringing in some useful revenue to enhance local areas.

When it was first conceived, the level discussed was £1 per night. However, the Edinburgh levy grew arms and legs and is now five per cent of accommodation costs plus VAT, and as a hotel bill in Edinburgh can easily exceed £100 even at quiet times, the levy will add £42 for a week’s accommodation at that rate. In peak periods, it could well add £100 to someone’s costs.

D Mitchell may be happy to pay £42 to £100 extra per week, but I suggest most of us are not. Worse, that £42 or £100 might otherwise be spent in local businesses providing jobs, but instead will be swallowed by the council, with much spent in ways unrelated to tourism.

Tourists on Edinburgh' Royal Mile as the Festival Fringe entered its final weekend in August 2024 (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

So it is not just “bluster”. A levy at five per cent will damage the hospitality industry which employs so many and on which many, many parts of Scotland depend.

Brian Barbour, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Nortumberland

Central planning

I read with interest Brian Wilson’s article on the collapse of the National Care Service plan (Scotsman, 25 January).

Every centralisation of the Police, the Ambulance Service, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and now the attempt to centralise the care service has failed. The latter has cost £30 million down the drain.

Can this SNP administration not learn lessons from the failed Deposit Return Scheme? What other disasters are lined up for example the visitor levy scheme, tax on Campervans and mobile homes, second homes charges and Airbnb charges?

Michael Baird, Bonar Bridge, Highland

Taking care

In 2019 UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised he had an “oven-ready plan” for social care yet PM Keir Starmer has recently announced that the UK Government’s social care plan will not be announced until 2028 (at the earliest).

Conveniently, opposition party politicians and other critics who seek to blame the SNP for all perceived shortcomings in our public services (even while overriding control remains at Westminster) ignore the social care paralysis at Westminster and condemn the SNP for not yet achieving its ambition of delivering a National Care Service for Scotland. Much criticism in this regard fails to reference, never mind address, the complexity of attempting to introduce a standardised service across Scotland.

Hopefully the Scottish Government’s social care advisory board can make some progress in integrating social care with the NHS to advance free and seamless health and social care provision at a high standard throughout Scotland. If all political parties and concerned interests build on progress achieved and constructively work together, we in Scotland will not have to wait until Westminster gets its act together on social care to see the realisation of our common ambitions for a robust and enduring well-being foundation to our public services.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry, East Lothian

More storms ahead

“Once in a generation” Storm Eowyn, which saw the highest winds since 2012 in Edinburgh, is just one in a growing trend. During the previous storm season the UK experienced a record number of named storms, bringing wind and flooding on an unprecedented scale. While meteorologists rightly link this trend to global warming, it’s worth noting that temperatures in Edinburgh reached just 22C last year on one of ten days exceeding 20C. In December Scotland experienced a mere 18.5 hours of sunshine, about 35 minutes a day on average, and in July, our warmest month, an average of under four hours a day, according to Statistica. Rainfall of about 750mm was recorded last year in Edinburgh due to a wet spring, well above the Met Office long-term average of 639mm. Even with less intense heat Scotland continues to experience more rain and climate scientists report a 20 per cent overall UK increase from the long-term average.

Worldwide studies covering the pandemic period show lower aerosol levels from pollution increased sunshine. The Met Office anomaly map for the UK covering the first full month of lockdown, shows the whole UK experienced sunshine of over 200 hours, seven hours a day on average, and nowhere saw below the long-term average. This may suggest that the climate could recover quickly through a sustained reduction of oil and gas emissions.

Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Protocol will see more countries finding an excuse to delay or to opt out of meeting climate targets. It’s important that the economic benefits of renewables are promoted and clean energy is produced more efficiently. The alternative will see more storms and climate change accelerating out of control.

Neil Anderson, Edinburgh

Fingers on pulse

Those bewildered by the rise of Trump, or Farage for that matter, would do well to read the article by Susan Dalgety (Scotsman, 25 January). Whatever you think of them (I don’t trust either of them), they have their finger on the pulse of their nations that many politicians are too blind to see.

William Ballantine, Bo’ness, West Lothian

Impartial news

Look we get it. We really do. BBC TV News does not like President Trump. Therefore, I have a suggestion.Why don’t the much-lauded(by the BBC) BBC Verify and BBC Fact Checking services turn their attention to their editorial content and slant?

John V Lloyd, Inverkeithing, Fife

Write to The Scotsman

We welcome your thoughts – NO letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid 'Letters to the Editor/Readers’ Letters' or similar in your subject line – be specific. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.