By PAULA MURRAY and LETTICE BROMOVSKY
Published: | Updated:
Aberdeen is pushing ahead with the introduction of the most expensive visitor levy in the country.
The city council has approved the introduction of the proposed seven per cent tax saying it would bring in £5 per night on an average hotel room.
The tax would apply to all overnight accommodation in the city including hotels, hostels, guest houses, B&Bs and self-catering lets. Camping sites and caravan parks would also charge the levy fee.
The plans are now going out for consultation after the local authority’s finance and resources committee greenlighted the move which excludes cruise ships and motor homes.
Should they be approved, the scheme would come into effect from April 1, 2027 at the earliest.
It comes as Edinburgh will start charging 5 per cent levy from July next year while Glasgow City Council and Highland Council are consulting a tax at the same level.
The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill was passed in May last year, allowing councils across the country to charge a fee or tax on overnight stays.
Committee convener, Cllr Alex McLellan, said: ‘Our decision around whether or not to introduce a visitor levy will be informed by the consultation as it is important to consider the views of the trade, and a key part of that discussion will be around how the council could use the funds to boost the city’s economy, increase visitor numbers, and, in turn, fill hotel rooms.’
Aberdeen is pushing ahead with the introduction of the most expensive visitor levy in the UK (pictured: Union Terrace Gardens, Aberdeen)
The tax would apply to all overnight accommodation in the city including hotels, hostels, guest houses, B&Bs and self-catering lets
Aberdeen sits on Scotland’s northeast coast
However, one Conservative councillor said it was ‘rude’ to consider another tax.
According to the Press and Journal, councillor Richard Brooks added: ‘This is another tax on people.
‘I don’t want to portray the city council as the Grim Reaper, but the timing of this is questionable.
‘Council tax will rise shortly, there are additional restrictions to cars with LEZ and bus gates.’
David Weston, of the Scottish Bed and Breakfast Association, said of the seven per cent figure, to BBC Scotland News: ‘I’m astonished, because Aberdeen does not suffer from over tourism.
‘They’re not looking at all at the dangers to tourism and the damage that would to do to tourism, to Aberdeen, which would have a wider impact across the whole of the economy.’
Meanwhile in England, there are no powers held by the central government, local councils or mayors to introduce a tourist tax, unlike in some European cities – but Manchester and Liverpool both introduced one in April last year through a legal workaround.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies previously estimated that a tourist tax in England with a charge of £1 per person per night would raise approximately £420million per year.
The Northern Powerhouse Partnership estimated that £428million could be raised. In comparison, council tax raises about £30billion and business rates about £25 billion per year in England, according to Government figures.
Which UK cities already have a tourist tax?
ENGLAND
Neither local authorities nor central government in England have the power to introduce a tourist tax, but Manchester and Liverpool city councils each launched one in April 2023 in through a legal workaround. They brought in tourism-based Business Improvement Districts (BID) which collect additional business rates payments from firms operating in specified areas.
Manchester introduced an ‘accommodation BID’ which is payable by hotels and serviced apartments with a rateable value of £75,000 or more, in an area within Manchester city centre and a small adjoining part of Salford. The levy is expected to raise up to £3.8million per year between 2023 and 2028 – and raised £2.8million in the first year.
In Liverpool, the BID levy covers the whole city and is payable for accommodation properties with a rateable value of £45,000 or more, with a cap of £50,000 per property. The levy is 1.6 per cent of a property’s rateable value, rising to 4.5 per cent in 2024/25 and 2025/26. It is expected to raise £939,000 per year in the latter two years.
In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan is now considering a tourist tax on the capital’s hotels, with his team looking at the evidence from other cities.
The UK’s first so-called coastal tourist tax across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in Dorset was approved in May following a ballot of hoteliers. It would have required guests staying in larger hotels to pay an extra £2 per room, per night – but this was then put on hold in July following opposition from more than 40 hotels who lodged an appeal with the government over how the ballot was conducted. This week, it was revealed that the appeal was being considered by Housing Secretary Angela Rayner.
The tax has also previously been consider by councils in Birmingham, Bath, Cambridge, Cornwall and Thanet in Kent – but has not been implemented in any of those areas.
SCOTLAND
The Scottish Parliament passed the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 in April, which gives local authorities the power to introduce a tourist tax.
Aberdeen City, Argyll and Bute, and Highland councils are also planning to consult on a levy.
WALES
Proposals for a tourist tax began going through the Welsh Parliament last year – but prompted fury from the Welsh Association of Visitor Attractions which urged its members to shut for one day in protest.