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About proposals for a visitor levy

Background to the work on a Visitor Levy for Edinburgh

We have been considering a visitor levy in Edinburgh for many years. Councillors discussed a visitor levy at a meeting of the City of Edinburgh Council in May 2018. Since then, a series of reports have been considered, including

  • in October 2018  from
    • our key city stakeholders and partners
    • a survey completed by visitors and residents
  • in October to December 2018, we carried out a formal consultation with public on a visitor levy for Edinburgh. We reported the  in February 2019
  • a report with a   was considered at the Policy and Sustainability Committee on 22 August 2023
  • in November 2023 – January 2024, we carried out an informal survey gathering views from residents and visitors. We reported the  to the Policy and Sustainability Committee in March 2024
  • on 22 August 2024, the Policy and Sustainability Committee considered a . The draft scheme was approved for the next stage where we will gather views on the draft in a public consultation.

At the same time, we have

  • worked with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) in the publication of the  report in June 2018
  • contributed towards a Parliamentary Committee study in September 2018
  • responded to a  which was reported in March 2019
  • responded to a Scottish Government consultation on the new  reported in March 2020
  • contributed towards the which is producing guidance for local authorities to implement a visitor levy
  • engaged consistently with the visitor economy via the and directly with businesses.