Last week, the Scottish Parliament introduced the Visitor Levy (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill. You can read the Bill and accompanying document here, and the Scottish Government's press release here.
Following engagement and consultation with tourism businesses, industry bodies and councils, the Scottish, the amendment bill has been introduced with the purpose of giving councils more flexibility in how they design local schemes. Once the amendment is passed - planned for early this year - local authorities may choose to introduce a visitor levy that is based on either a percentage rate model or a fixed amount model.
The Scottish Tourism Alliance’s Chief Executive, Marc Crothall MBE, said: 'Following constructive talks with the Minister for Public Finance, Scottish Government officials and cross-party politicians over the past year, The Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) is heartened that they have listened to our calls to introduce the option of a simpler, fixed-fee visitor levy charge.'
The STA has urged local authorities to consider pausing any plans for introducing a visitor levy scheme until the legislative amendments have been made and the detail is known.
The new Bill also clarifies how accommodation providers should report to councils and how levies are to be applied to sales made through third parties such as travel agents.
To ensure that the Scottish Government continues to work closely with industry in this matter, a working group is being set up to meet regularly as the Bill proceeds through Parliament.
Read more:
https://www.gov.scot/news/amending-the-visitor-levy/
Image credit: Visit Scotland