Edinburgh councillors last week voted to be the first city in the UK to impose a tourist tax. The vote, which requires legislation by the Scottish parliament before it takes effect, called for a £2 per night charge on all paid accommodation for the first week of a visitor’s stay.
Edinburgh’s move follows Venice’s plans to impose an entry charge on day-trippers, which prompted Gian Marco Centinaio, the Italian tourism minister, to ask: “Do we want to become a tourist-repelling country?”
Tourist taxes are not new. Many cities around the world have levies on hotel rooms. These vary, as a useful 2017 Greater London Authority report points out, from flat-rate charges, as Edinburgh proposes, to percentages of the accommodation bill to bands of charges based on the class of hotel.