Controversial plans to introduce a tourist tax in the Highlands 'should be shelved' in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic
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Highland Council’s depute leader Alasdair Christie – who is leading the authority’s efforts to recover from the pandemic – admitted it would be the wrong time to bring in a tax on visitors while the hospitality sector was struggling so badly.
It comes as hotels and B&Bs prepare to reopen tomorrow for the first time since the start of lockdown in mid-March – the same time the Scottish Government decided to postpone consideration of the tourist tax due to the coronavirus.
But this week Tory councillors have been lobbying the council’s administration to put its own “temporary pause” on the policy ahead of a tourism committee meeting this Thursday. And the tourism sector has recently been hit by redundancies, closures and the collapse of tour operators.
Cllr Christie said: “The tourist tax is subject to government decision for it to go ahead. However, from a Highland Council perspective, we are well aware that the hospitality sector is really struggling at the moment, so it would be really inappropriate to advance proposals for introducing it at this stage.”
More than six million visitors are welcomed to the Highlands every year and the council believes a tourist tax could raise up to £10 million annually by charging visitors extra per night.
Last December, councillors voted to explore the idea of a tourist tax in more detail and to start drawing up plans for what the implementation might look like, with 2021 mooted as the earliest it could be introduced.
Conservative group leader Andrew Jarvie said: “The tourist tax remains a lingering concern. I led the fight against what I felt was killing our golden goose. Unfortunately, I lost but we are in a different world now. Regardless of what your view of the tourist tax is, I think everyone can agree that now is the wrong time to even have it on the back burner.”
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