Background to the work on a Visitor Levy for Edinburgh
We have been considering a visitor levy in Edinburgh for many years. Councillors discussed a visitor levy at a meeting of the City of Edinburgh Council in May 2018. Since then, a series of reports have been considered, including
- in October 2018 a report on views from
- our key city stakeholders and partners
- a survey completed by visitors and residents
- in October to December 2018, we carried out a formal consultation with public on a visitor levy for Edinburgh. We reported the findings and set out a position on a levy in February 2019
- a report with a progress update and draft proposals was considered at the Policy and Sustainability Committee on 22 August 2023
- in November 2023 – January 2024, we carried out an informal survey gathering views from residents and visitors. We reported the findings of the informal survey to the Policy and Sustainability Committee in March 2024
- on 22 August 2024, the Policy and Sustainability Committee considered a report on a draft visitor levy scheme. The draft scheme was approved for the next stage where we will gather views on the draft in a public consultation.
At the same time, we have
- worked with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) in the publication of the Transient Visitor Tax report in June 2018
- contributed towards a Parliamentary Committee study in September 2018
- responded to a national conversation on the tourist tax in Scotland which was reported in March 2019
- responded to a Scottish Government consultation on the new legislation for a visitor levy reported in March 2020
- contributed towards the Visitor Levy Expert Group which is producing guidance for local authorities to implement a visitor levy
- engaged consistently with the visitor economy via the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group and directly with businesses.