Wick hotel owner condemns ‘tourist tax’ proposal – ‘It will disadvantage our area’
The owner of a Wick hotel has shared a petition by the Highland Hotels Association (HHA) against a ‘damaging’ Visitor Levy Tax (VLT) proposal.
Highland Council has indicated that a VLT, or ‘tourist tax’, at 5 per cent could raise £10 million a year for the region.
Ellie Lamont, who runs Mackays Hotel in Wick, says there are council areas in Scotland which are not adopting the visitor levy and that introducing it in Caithness “will disadvantage our area”.
“A blanket tourism tax from the Highland Council on all overnight hosted accommodation is currently under consideration – designed very differently to other major destinations,” said Mrs Lamont.
“This will affect not just international visitors but also the large number of guests who travel to us from within the Highlands and wider Scotland for work or hospital visits.”
The HHA states in its petition that the tax may cause accommodation providers to review their operations, staffing and pricing due to the extra financial cost which could result “in a decrease in visitor numbers and local employment numbers”.
It continues: “Tourism is worth £1.5bn to the Highland economy, supporting 21,000 jobs – any negative additional taxes could have serious economic consequences for our area, local people and businesses.”
Mrs Lamont says that a major concern is that the levy will be included in the accommodation providers’ turnover, therefore making the levy itself subject to VAT. “Tax on tax is wrong.”
Together with other HHA members, she urges Highland Council to reconsider the proposal and listen to the public and business owners who will be directly impacted.
“People in Caithness already have to cover costs of travel to Inverness for NHS appointments and it seems unfair they should be paying a levy when they’ve no choice.
“There is also a high percentage of business tourism which sustains the hospitality sector in Caithness during the winter months, will this drop off?
“There seems to be an argument that other places have successfully introduced a visitor levy, however their VAT levels are around 8 to 10 per cent, not 20 per cent as we pay. Lack of clarity on how the levy income would be used within our communities is also a concern.”
Read about the petition at: www.change.org/p/highland-council-we-do-not-support-the-visitor-levy-tax
On Wednesday, business leaders from the region gathered at Inverness to protest against the plans to introduce the levy, with Colin Marr of Inverness Chamber of Commerce describing it as “fundamentally flawed”.
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