Similar tourist taxes are already in place at other holiday hotspots like Berlin, Amsterdam and New York to tackle to negative impacts of tourism.
Edinburgh will become the first city in Scotland to charge visitors a transient visitor levy (Image: Getty)
A new tourist tax in a major UK city has come a step closer after councillors voted in favour of the new levy which aims to bring in as much as £50m a year.
Edinburgh will become the first city in Scotland to charge visitors a transient visitor levy (TVL), using profits to fund improvements to public spaces in the nation’s capital, BBC News reports.
Similar tourist taxes are already in place at other holiday hotspots like Berlin, Amsterdam and New York, in an attempt to tackle the negative impacts of overtourism on the cost of living and the lives of locals.
The new charge, which applies to paid for accomodation, covers hotels, B&Bs, self-catering accommodation as well as rooms and properties tented out using websites like AirBnB, according to the report.
Councillors voted in support of the draft proposals at a meeting of the policy and sustainability committee.
The city is hugely popular with English tourists, particularly during the festival season. (Image: Getty)
A 12-week consultation period will begin this autumn, with residents to be surveyed over whether the five percent charge tabled in the initial proposal should be raised or lowered.
Input from residents and local businesses will shape the final scheme, which is due to be agreed in January, Edinburgh Evening News reports.
The Scottish Greens proposed raising the additional charge to eight percent, the BBC reports. The levy is planned to be introduced in time for the 2026 festival season.
Council leader Cammy Day said £5m of the funds raised would be devoted to housing, with 35 percent going to the arts sector.
The council’s SNP group pushed for the housing allocation to be increased to £20m, but the motion was defeated, according to reports.
Edinburgh Council’s new chief executive, Paul Laurence, said taking £5m from the potential £50m-a-year boost would “plug the viability gap” at council-owned land which has been earmarked for housing, and that through borrowing it could generate an additional £70m for housebuilding.
But Leon Thompson, executive director of UK Hospitality Scotland, said visitors are already facing high prices, insisting: “Tourist taxes are not good for this country.”
“We are already not a very competitive destination,” he told BBC News. “We have the highest rate of VAT on hospitality in Europe and we also have outdated business rates which all add to the costs for businesses and obviously those costs are which go on to the visitor experience.”
Mr Day told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland that the levy is the “equivalent of a few pounds worth of a cup of coffee. The evidence that we’ve done and research from across the world shows a levy has no impact on tourism.
“I can’t see a few pounds putting somebody off visiting the city,” he added. “If you can afford to spend hundreds of pounds on a hotel room, you can afford a few pounds to support the city that you are visiting.”
He has also said the move would “significantly increase our ability to invest in the visitor experience and the tourism pressures we face, from keeping the city clean to responding to our housing emergency, so that everyone can continue to enjoy all that the city has to offer.
In November 2023, the city council declared a housing emergency in response to soaring house prices and rental rates, as well as a record number of people identifying as homeless.
Ella Rook of tenants’ union Living Rent said the proposed visitor levy “provides an inspiring and critical opportunity to address the housing emergency in Edinburgh.
“We strongly support the proposal that £5m from the levy is put toward housing and would encourage this to be increased.”
However, she noted that the draft scheme for the visitor levy currently “only mentions spending funds from the £70m on mid-market housing.
“It would be a mistake to think that mid market housing is the route to ending the housing crisis in Edinburgh. Mid-market housing will not be affordable to many of the city’s residents,” she added.
Labour ‘could bring back EU free movement for the under-30s’ under plans for reset in relations with Brussels
Labour is said to be considering restarting EU freedom of movement for people aged under 30 as it seeks to ‘reset’ the UK’s relationship with Brussels.
Government officials have suggested it could be a way for the UK to ‘give ground’ as it could be a stumbling block preventing closer ties with the bloc in future.
Labour has made no secret of the fact that it wants to alter the UK/EU relationship from how it worked under the Tories.
Last month Nick Thomas-Symonds met European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic for their first face-to-face talks to ‘set the ground for further discussions’ on deepening ties.
According to the Times a reciprocal plan similar to that Britain already has with Canada and Australia, where those under 30 can live and work for three years, with a source telling the paper: ‘If we are serious about resetting relations with the EU then we need to be prepared to give them some of the things that they want.’
While there would be a youth mobility scheme, they stressed it was not a return to full freedom of movement that was cancelled by Brexit.
However, a No10 source today said that such a plan was not being considered.
Sir Keir Starmer is said to have discussed a youth mobility proposal with Spanish Counterpart Pedro Sanchez when they met at the Blenheim Palace summit.
Sir Keir Starmer is said to have discussed a youth mobility proposal with Spanish Counterpart Pedro Sanchez when they met at the Blenheim Palace summit.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that Sir Keir did not reject the proposal, made to him by Mr Sanchez, and that he would mull it over.
It will raise fresh concerns about whether Sir Keir, who campaigned for a second referendum to reverse the Leave vote, will gradually unpick Brexit in his bid to ‘reset’ relations with Brussels.
Such a scheme would be likely to be popular with abroad swathe of Labour MPs and voters. It comes after London mayor Sadiq Khan this week yet again put himself at odds with the party leadership over Europe.
Mr Khan, one of the most high profile Europhiles in Labour, told the New Statesman: ‘In the medium to long term, there will need to be a conversation about whether we have a better future inside the EU or outside of it.’
That is despite Sir Keir, 61, last month saying he did not believe the UK would rejoin the EU in his lifetime.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokeswoman Layla Moran said: ‘I urge the government to negotiate a reciprocal Youth Mobility Scheme with the EU, like the one we already have with Australia, Canada, Japan and a number of other countries.
‘This would give our young people fantastic opportunities to live and work across Europe, while also providing a much-needed boost to the UK economy – especially our hospitality sector.
‘It would also be a crucial first step on the road to rebuilding the ties of trust, trade and friendship with our European neighbours that the Conservative Party damaged so terribly.’
‘We’ll have to wear gas masks soon!’ Neighbours on London City Airport flightpath fear impact of more noisy planes taking off in the morning after plans to fly 2.5m more passengers a year get the green light
Residents living near London City airport claim they will have to wear ‘gasmasks’ soon – as an increase in flights could send air pollution soaring.
The airport, located in East London, has had plans approved to increase its passenger cap from 6.5 million to nine million.
But their bid to overturn a ban on Saturday afternoon flights has been rejected – meaning more flights will take off between 6am and 9am.
London City airport say they would have only permitted new ‘cleaner quieter aircraft[s]’ during these times.
Locals living in and around Silvertown, in the borough of Newham, said that more planes will be an ‘absolute nightmare’.
June Welcome, 59, who lives nearby with her eight-year-old granddaughter Alaramay, says she is scared for her family because of the increased air pollution.
Pictured is an illustration of the flight path at London City Airport and Silvertown, where locals are furious at the planned passenger increase at the transportation hub
June Welcome (left) and her granddaughter Alaramay (right) live close to London City airport – which has just had plans approved to increase its passenger cap
The airport, located in East London, is now able to increase its passenger cap from 6.5 million to 9 million – meaning more flights will take off between 6am and 9am
The resident of 26 years said: ‘It is an absolute nightmare. If they increase them it is going to be horrendous.
‘This is a mostly residential area and having planes constantly going over is scary and it is dangerous.
‘It is the most polluted borough in the country. I fear for my granddaughter and my daughter who has asthma, she struggles.
‘We will be walking around in gas masks soon. We don’t know what all these pollutants are doing to us.’
June added that she has gotten used to the noise mostly, but still believes the airport bosses should be helping more.
She added: ‘You get used to the noise. The only time you really notice it is when you are on the phone and can’t hear a thing.
‘I live in social housing, so I don’t have the privilege of just being able to move.
‘This is all about money, and money always takes priority over other peoples lives. The people who run the airport don’t live here so they don’t have to suffer the consequences.’
Nirav Gajra, 35, says the planes have woken him up every day for the last year and that he is dreading an increase.
The resident, who works in a bank, said: ‘It already bothers me. It wakes me up every morning. I don’t really need an alarm because I have the planes.
‘It is so loud. You want peace in the morning. You don’t want a lot of noise. It is the worst in summer because you want to keep your windows open, but you can’t because of the noise.
‘It would be nice if the airport would do something to help the residents.
‘I have been thinking about moving but I have only just moved here from Canary Wharf. I came here because I wanted quiet, and this seemed like a peaceful village. The planes ruin that.’
Nirav Gajra (pictured) says the planes have woken him up every day for the last year and that he is dreading an increase
A general view of the homes under the flightpath of London City airport
A plane lands at London City Airport as an expansion has been given the green light
T Santos, 52, only wanted to give an initial and his surname.
He has lived in his flat overlooking the airports runway for nine years says the noise is at its worst on Sundays when he is trying to unwind.
T said: ‘It is very noisy and very loud. The worst time for the noise is Sunday. Its only then when you’re sat chilling that you really start to notice it.
‘The noise has increased a lot in the last two years. It has become much more constant than it was before.
‘They have said that they are going to replace all our windows so that we can’t hear it as much.
‘If you close all your windows and doors then you don’t hear it as much because the houses are very well insulated.
‘We live in England, and we don’t have the choice to move.
‘When you live here you get used to it. There is nothing we can do about it.
‘If I could move to an area like this without an airport I would, but it is not an option because of the housing situation in this country.
‘It is all about them making money. There is no one monitoring these people.’
Christina, who declined to give her surname, has been living in her flat for 12 years but is now trying to move due to the constant noise.
She said: ‘It is so noisy. Once the planes start, they don’t stop. We live right next to it and we don’t have double glazing.
‘My little granddaughter can’t bear the sound, she has to cover her ears. We are looking at moving. It is mostly because of the sound.
‘It is worst on Sundays, you have to keep pausing the TV every five seconds because you can’t hear anything.’
Others however see that there are benefits to living so close to an airport and that they expected the noise.
Hawa Sissilia Kebe, 31, says she has gotten used to the sound in her 15 years living there – but that it always shocks her guests.
She said: ‘I think after a while you just stop hearing them. It is almost part of our life.
‘We all have earplugs on our bedside tables in case it gets too loud.
‘It is mostly bad when we have guests come over because they are not used to it.’
Hawa Sissilia Kebe, 31, says she has gotten used to the sound in her 15 years living there – but that it always shocks her guests
A general view of homes under the flightpath of London City Airport. Residents have reported pausing their TVs and children covering their ears because the noise is too loud
An additional 2.5million people will be able to fly annually from London City airport
She added: ‘I don’t like when they do early flights, so if they increase that it would be a pain.
‘It has 100 per cent increased since we moved in. I think it is because there are so many more airlines.
‘The airport should be helping us. They always say that they are going to do more to fix things but they don’t.
‘The air pollution is a concern, but it is already so bad that I’m not sure more planes will make a difference at this point.
‘It is definitely handy to live next to it for holidays, but it is not good for my wallet.’
Ellie, 40, who declined to give her surname said: ‘If you choose to live next to an airport you can’t be bothered when it is loud.
‘It is quite noisy during commuter hours, Monday morning for example.
‘It doesn’t really bother me now and I doubt it will bother me when they increase them.
‘We knew what we were getting into moving here.’
MailOnline has approached London City airport for comment.
