Tourist tax unwelcome in Inverness, says BID

ANY tourist tax imposed on the Highlands would be unacceptable to city businesses and could threaten their profitability, Inverness Business Improvement District (BID) has claimed.

The body, which represents more than 850 businesses in the centre of Inverness, was responding to Highland Council’s consultation on proposals for a transient visitor levy (TVL), which ended on Sunday.

The council believes the measure could raise between £5 million to £10 million annually, which supporters argue could be spent addressing the impact of tourism.

Writing on behalf of BID directors and members, manager Mike Smith said that, like other areas in the region, city centre businesses have become more dependent on visitors, and that there were concerns the imposition of a tourist tax would threaten the competitiveness of the region compared with other parts of the Scotland and thus the profitability of individual businesses.

Of particular importance in this regard, he said, is the way that nearby Aberdeen and the wider Aberdeenshire areas are developing their tourism sector. Mr Smith also pointed to Amsterdam, where two cruise companies cancelled all visits to the city after the introduction of TVL in January, warning that a similar move in this area would cost the Highlands £230,000 in tourism spend each year.

He also raised fears the new tax could generate negative publicity for the area, and spoke of concerns that there was no mechanism for ensuring the money raised would be used for tourism purposes.

He said: “It is the view of the BID board of directors that any proposal to implement TVL would be counter-productive and unacceptable to the majority of city centre businesses.”

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