Edinburgh tourist tax: SNP and Green calls for higher rate of Visitor Levy rejected
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From July 24, 2026, visitors will have to pay a 5 per cent levy on the cost of their accommodation for the first five nights of any stay.
An SNP proposal to set the levy at 7 per cent and a Green call for an 8 per cent charge were both defeated, as was a Conservative bid to lower it to 4 per cent.


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Hide AdLabour council leader Jane Meagher said Edinburgh's adoption of the visitor levy was "important, innovative and ground-breaking".
But the special meeting of the council's policy and sustainability agreed to delay a decision on a three-month transition period which would see the levy added to advance bookings made after May 1. Several industry bodies had warned the time allowed was too short and officers will now consider the concerns ahead of final approval for the visitor levy at a special meeting of the full council next Friday.
Cllr Meagher hailed the committee's support for the scheme as a major milestone. She said: "This is an initiative we have spent around a decade lobbying for and developing.
“The scheme we have today has involved a great deal of collaboration with the industry, residents and visitors through extensive consultation. At all stages we have engaged and we have listened - and it's in this spirit that we must continue to fine tune the levy as it launches and grows."
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Hide AdThe visitor levy is expected to bring in an extra £100m over the first three years and then £50m a year. Under the scheme, £5m a year will be "top-sliced" and used to borrow money to build new affordable homes while £2m will go for "participatory budgeting" where communities decide what projects to support.
The rest of the money raised will be divided, with with 55 per cent going to city operations and infrastructure, from street cleaning and improved lighting to sett replacement and pedestrianisation; 35 per cent for the local arts and culture sector; and 10 per cent for tourism marketing for the city.
The SNP said its proposed 7 per cent levy would unlock many more opportunities and argued the money for housing should be increased to £20m.
The committee had earlier heard a deputation from Living Rent, who argued homes were being used for tourist accommodation while hospitality workers were being priced out of the city due to high rents and building more council flats would support a group crucial to the industry.
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Hide AdSNP group leader Simita Kumar said: "There is so much evidence of the impact of tourism on housing, yet you are willing to do only the bare minimum in terms of the housing crisis. This is a huge opportunity - why are we willing to waste that opportunity?"
Green Alex Staniforth said the 8 per cent levy his party proposed was in line with other European cities. "We are playing catch-up with those cities. Not only do they have levies as high as 8 per cent, but they have had them for years, allowing them to mitigate the negative effect tourism can have on those cities and emphasise the positive."
The Greens too called for more money to be invested in housing. But Cllr Meagher said: "We have listened to many voices during the consultation and I am confident that this scheme is the best to ensure the success of the scheme."
The legislation which allows councils to introduce a visitor levy requires the revenue raised to be spent to support, develop or sustain the visitor economy. Official guidance has made clear that includes initiatives which benefit visitors either directly or indirectly and that housing would be a legitimate area of spending.
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Hide AdLib Dem group leader Kevin Lang said: "I wish the government had given us complete discretion over how this money should be used. I'm a great believer that central government should trust local government a lot more and give it the freedom to send the money it's raised in a much more flexible way."
Tory group leader Iain Whyte said he remained opposed to the visitor levy but pragmaticaly was proposing the charge should be 4 per cent in recognition that it was coming on top of a VAT rate of 20 per cent, which was higher than many European cities which had a tourist tax. And he said the VAT on the levy would take it up to nearly 5 per cent.
He said: "It's easy to say we should be doing this simply because others have a visitor levy, but we have to take account of the whole tax basket and we have to take account of the market."
Earlier, Neil Ellis of the Edinburgh Hotels Association had told councillors a 5 per cent levy was "the absolute maximum we would see as an industry that we could accept".
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