THE member Council of the Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) has welcomed the reaffirmed Scottish Government position that it will not legislate to grant powers to local authorities to introduce a transient visitor tax without the full involvement of the tourism industry and ensuring that the long term interests of the industry are fully recognised.
It is of the view that any change to this position should only be considered in the light of an objective and well-informed national, rather than local, debate following independent research.
The STA has requested a meeting with the Scottish Government for initial discussions around the preparation of the research brief and shaping of a proposed framework for consultation.
A statement from the STA said: “While a tourism tax/visitor levy may work well for tourism businesses, destinations and local authorities in other global destinations where the level of VAT on tourism services is lower than that of the UK, the idea must be examined within the context of:
- The UK having the second highest VAT rate in Europe at 20%
- The challenges which exist to the imposition of an additional tax
- The impact on price-sensitive visitors and indeed the impact on businesses already coping with the ‘perfect storm’ of rising costs that tourism businesses in Scotland currently face
“We would also highlight that while the exchange rates are currently favourable for our international markets, this may not persist beyond the short-term and the fact remains that around 60% of Scotland’s tourism spend comes from our already squeezed domestic visitors. Any further tax or levy applied could seriously dilute this market.”
The SLTA is a member of the STA Council.