Caithness hotelier warns visitor levy plans are ‘flawed’ and ‘bad for Highlands’
Caithness hotelier Andrew Mackay believes “accommodation tax” would be a more accurate term for the so-called tourist tax being proposed for the Highlands.
The scheme could be worth £10 million a year to Highland Council, for the benefit of the visitor economy, and consultation is continuing until the end of this month.
However, Mr Mackay believes many members of the public are unaware of the full implications. He said he and others in the hotel industry consider the scheme to be “flawed in many ways” and “bad for the Highlands in general”.
He would like to see as many people as possible responding to the consultation before the March 31 deadline.
“If we don’t complete the consultation form on their website then they will roll this out due to our apathy,” Mr Mackay said.
While widely described as a tourist tax, there are concerns that it would penalise those from the Highlands who need to book overnight accommodation elsewhere in the region for a range of reasons.
Highland Council agreed in December to launch a formal consultation on a five per cent charge.
Mr Mackay, who runs the Caithness Collection of hotels, was among a small group of hoteliers who met last week with local councillors.
Mr Mackay told them: “There does not seem to have been any feasibility study or impact analysis on the levy and the businesses it will affect.”
He also argued that no consideration had been given to the administrative burden on small businesses.
Mr Mackay questioned how “accommodation” would be defined and how Airbnb properties and campsites would be “policed”.
He added: “All in all this seems like a smash and grab against the tourist with no plan how to implement it, the impact it will have, nor how it will be spent.”
Earlier this month community councillors in Wick called for residents of the Highlands to be spared the visitor levy.
In December, the tax was condemned by Caithness Health Action Team as “a shameful levy on the sick” as patients travelling to receive NHS treatment would be classed as visitors within the legislation.
The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 was passed by the Scottish Parliament in May 2024 and received royal assent in July. It gives local authorities in Scotland the power to introduce a levy on overnight accommodation at a percentage rate.
Types of accommodation included within the scope of the legislation are hotels, campsites, hostels, caravan parks, guest houses, bed-and-breakfast establishments and self-catering premises.
Businesses are worried that a percentage-based fee could make collection and calculation of the levy unnecessarily burdensome.
Four chambers of commerce in the Highlands, including Caithness, are calling for local authorities to have the option of setting a flat or banded rate.
