Highland Visitor Levy

There has been some mention of this in Cornwall. Some people will say isn't enough revenue generated from tourism anyway but this money is distributed around. I can see their point as long as they use the money to benefit local areas and not go into central coffers to be wasted. Should be interesting to hear people's views.
Phil.
 
If it’s only going to raise the amount quoted , what significant difference would that make to any infrastructure given the costs of for example , road construction/ maintenance ? It’s not really a lot of money in the big scheme of things but a levy of any kind might be a deciding factor for some as to whether they visit at all , based purely in the principal of such a charge. After all , visitors already spend a lot of money in the region and if a charge was enough to put people off going then that could have a seriously negative impact in the long term.
I wonder how much it cost to remove charges on the bridges to get up north ?
 
Even if it achieves nothing else, if it regulates the numbers visiting there it would be a worthwhile achievement.

Ian
 
StanandShirley said:
Just another money making scheme, certain money will not go to local charity or local needs
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You say that as though it’s a bad thing.

How do you think your wages/salary was funded?

Ian
 
Yeah, last time I went I got bitten....?

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As I live up here, I'm in favour of the tax, my wife works in souvenir shop in Inverness and some tourists already think they pay it. We go to Canada and pay the tax there, it's not a lot and overall makes very little difference to the cost of a holiday.

If the council use the money wisely then why not ? the Highland Council need to up their game for tourism and this may help, if people don't want to pay a small extra amount on their holiday, well, that's up to them, the NC500 is an amazing experience how ever you do it. I suppose living up here we get a bit blase about it, but we speak to tourists and not met anyone who hasn't enjoyed their visit, we get all the cruise ships in at Invergordon and if they have to pay a bit extra that will be good too, as most are only here for the day.
 
WillH said:
Touring in the Highlands was always a bit of a rip off, it's got worse in recent years. This just smacks of another moneymaker scheme to me.
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How so?

Ian
 
It should be a good idea, but if a £100 is collected by the time they all have a dip in the pot you would be lucky to see £25 going to the local community etc.
 
So having lived in that part of the world for 30 years, it's easy to see why Highland Council (among other LA's in Scotland) are looking at this issue. Central gov funding for councils is based on per head of population. Highland council have the lowest pop density and biggest area to cover meaning they have to spread their maintenance budget really far for roads, loo's, parking and the like. Then it's obviously a tourist area so visitors put more pressure on the infrastructure and things start to fall apart.
If you follow the consultation link that irnbru provided, there's a downloadable "pre consultation" document worth a read through. My take on it is that there are so many local tourist area groups and committees in that part of the world, that getting everyone to agree to a workable levy system will be a nightmare. However.....there's a big section on p17 where the Council are clearly looking to find a way of creating a "motorhome permit system" and on page 20, how the money collected might be spent on for example, "new visitor parking and motorhome facilities"
So it seems to me that whilst there might be healthy scepticism here calling it a money making scheme, it looks like the Council are genuinely in listening mode.......so.....if that's the case, then half an hour filling in an online questionnaire helping them shape a sensible policy out would seem like a good plan.
Just my 2p worth........

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All the promotion that the likes of Visit Scotland for example dish out has brought millions more people to the Scottish Highlands each year, and the extra money that that generates must be handsome. They get all this tourism and extra cash, and all they do is moan about how busy it has become, and that we haven't got this or that in place to accommodate so many people..that's all you seem to hear. Should have thought about that before shouting from the rooftops.
 
If you stay on sites in France there is a tourist tax, usually included in the fee but sometimes shown as an add on.
I had to act as a tax collector in France as I did B&B. It was about 50 centimes per night per guest. Cannot remember if pensioners were exempt, disabled people definitely were and no charge for children. I just kept a record of how many people stayed how many nights, worked it out and rounded it up to the nearest € and paid that at the end of each season.
Don’t know about now but in the Czech Republic there used to be two tier payments to attractions such as castles—- lower payment for Czech residents, higher amount for tourists. We were even given different menus in a restaurant one evening—- Czech people we were with noticed their menu prices were far lower than the ones we Brits were given. So there are different tourist taxes everywhere, why not Britain ?
 
At the moment its Italians, first usually are Germans and Dutch, and they come here for many reasons, including motorbikes, sports cars etc, a couple of pounds over a week won't kill the tourism, but may make the experience a whole lot better. Come on how many on here complain about lack of facilities up here ?
When you look at an area the size of the Highlands 11.5% of the UK with less than 250,000 inhabitants it's no wonder the council can't cope with 6 million visitors.
 
BusyBuilder said:
At the moment its Italians, first usually are Germans and Dutch, and they come here for many reasons, including motorbikes, sports cars etc, a couple of pounds over a week won't kill the tourism, but may make the experience a whole lot better. Come on how many on here complain about lack of facilities up here ?
When you look at an area the size of the Highlands 11.5% of the UK with less than 250,000 inhabitants it's no wonder the council can't cope with 6 million visitors.
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As has been said if it goes to the local community to enhance their area that’s great.

Not so good if it goes into the national pot as we know that will disappear into the ether as we know

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Tourism may create pressure on some infrastructure so there is more to maintain. But in an area like the Highlands it is a major source of income being paid into the local businesses which will often depend on tourism to be able to pay their taxes. So tourism will already be paying into the local and central coffers.

If one is to apply a local tourism tax, then why single out one specific sector? Are you just taxing say beds in a hotel, or do you levy it on food and drink and parking, if so how do you exempt the locals or are you into a two tier system where everyone has to start flashing ID cards? Oh wait, many local authorities already have things like Community Infrastructure Levy as added charges on residential development and can raise other charges to deal with need for bigger schools, and stuff.

The real problem is that taxes are claimed to be collected for one purpose but there is no real ring fencing of the expenditure to show it goes where it was intended. If there is a tourism tax, does that really mean the council can spend on improvement of tourism facilities like public toilets, or does that now subsidise the budget the council should have had for public toilets so their main budget isn't spread so thinly?
 
During June we were in the Hebrides. Visiting Arnol Blackhouse we were charged £6 per head [NOT WORTH IT IMO!] but the next visitor flashed her "Young Scot" card and got in for £1.

I noticed that the Coop in Stornoway offered 10% discount for Young Scot card holders.

Booths, which have a number of stores in The Lakes, actually show 2 prices on their goods - one for locals and the other for the rest!

Gordon
 
bigtwin said:
How so?

Ian
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Everyone wants to take your money but visitors get little in return for it. Two coffees and two scones, £10, and that was seven years ago. Hotel prices to match Glasgow and close to Edinburgh prices. Having said that I'm heading up to Fort William this week, two nights B&B £280 in a local hotel.
 
People who stay in hotels,guest houses and campsites, eat in local cafes and restaurants and shop in local shops of all kinds are contributing to the local economy.
Finding ways to get some contribution from people who travel around an area spending as little as possible whilst enjoying the views are the difficult ones to target. And there are people who expect to be able to do that. I don’t know how you target a particular group without them thinking their pocket has been picked!

Edit;
Maybe it’s acceptable to pick their pockets, but not to mug them?
 
Places in Italy can be just as expensive, try for instance St Marks Square for a coffee. If you don't want to pay the prices asked, then don't, it's the same the world over.

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Loveshack said:
People who stay in hotels,guest houses and campsites, eat in local cafes and restaurants and shop in local shops of all kinds are contributing to the local economy.
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That’s indeed correct and arguably some of that money finds its way back into Scot gov’s pocket via taxes and I suppose the LA through council tax and suchlike.
It just struck me that the way the consultation reads at the moment, all the local business and folk that have been involved in the pre consultation..... 40 or so ...... have had a pop at motorhomes. So unless a few of us put in helpful responses to put our perspective as “visitors to the area” then they’re possibly going to come up with some cock eyed scheme that works for no one.
 
Don’t know why anyone would want to visit the Highlands the roads are a joke, locals don’t like tourists, M/H are hated, overpriced, rains all the time, can never see Ben Nevis for low cloud, and full of white settlers. And Stornoway closes down on Sunday and am from the Highlands so I should know.:)
 
Wonder what they'll do if it backfires and the holiday pound goes to Wales instead?

That'll teach em a lesson.
 
bilM said:
Don’t know why anyone would want to visit the Highlands the roads are a joke,
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I really look forward to going 'home' to Scotland when I can. The roads are far superior to those here in Mid-Wales.
 
Wee Bold Davy said:
I really look forward to going 'home' to Scotland when I can. The roads are far superior to those here in Mid-Wales.
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You can say that again. We arrived in Wales today, my first time and probably the last. Stupid Garmin took me up to the top of the cable car in Llandudno, very steep and trying to manoeuvre the traffic was a nightmare. Don’t even ask me where we are now, somewhere in Snowdonia.

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