Highland Visitor Levy (1 Viewer)

[bigtwin]

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.

How so?

Everyone wants to take your money but visitors get little in return for it.

Really? You’re accosted by all the locals? And you get nothing in return?
What about the fantastic landscape, the wild life, the solitude, the sunsets, the seascapes, etc.

Two coffees and two scones, £10, and that was seven years ago. Hotel prices to match Glasgow and close to Edinburgh prices.

Two coffees and two scones for £10 doesn’t smack of a rip off - about typical I’d say. Folks seem to forget the costs associated with life in the highlands. It costs more, compared with areas with high population densities, for almost everything so it cannot be unexpected if products cost more and sell for more. Remember, locals have to pay these increased costs everyday of their lives but tourists only have to do so for a few days a year.

I’m sure that the locals would love to be able to pay the lower prices that we enjoy in our everyday lives.

There is a difference between things being ‘more expensive’ and being a rip-off.

Ian

 

[Loveshack]

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.

If I were to contribute to the consultation it would be in support of some form of local/ tourist levy. But I suppose that the majority of tourists, wether in motorhomes or in bricks and mortar, contribute, willingly to the local economy.

 

[WillH]

Ian, I live in Scotland, not in Highland region, I know what the prices should be. The scenery, sunsets etc. I already have.

Edit The wages and costs are the same there as they are where I live in the South West so that's no excuse.

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[TinaLes]

Was it not just last year that pictures were shown by the media of the vast number of MH's visiting Skye? They were considering the introduction of a Skye Tourist Tax back then.
The complaint was that as well as there being too many of them that they parked up everywhere blocking or severely restricting the entrances to the main towns Portree in particular.
One campsite owner(by ferry port at Uig) actually moaned that he had noticed when emptying his commercial bins that the food containers therein had not been sourced locally from the Dutch & German visitors as they had brought their own supplies from home.

I have also learnt recently that many MH owners from many countries like to Wildcamp at the The Fairy pools free car park and the whole place now stinks of pee, because of cassettes being emptied at the edges. As usual it will probably be a few doing this, however it only needs one to start before the rest follow,and they will spoil it it for all, height barriers springs to mind.
Unfortunately I no longer visit Skye as I hate to think of it being spoilt by some would say being a victim of its own success, I also want to treasure my memories of the fantastic camping holidays I had there when I was a younger man.
We did the NC 500 last April for our Honeymoon in the MH, and I have to say we were so fortunate with the weather no rain at all, no midges and so many fantastic views & Sunsets
Lasting memories of the wild spots we found along with a couple of CL,s & the CMC site at Braemar, made using the van one very special holiday experience.
If a reasonably priced tourist tax were to be introduced to enhance the touring experience by offering more motor home parking/aires etc the we would happily pay it.

Perhaps then they could then do is remove all those yellow "No Overnight Parking" Signs and introduce an honesty box system, and I may add I am of Scottish Origin!

Les

 

[Wee Bold Davy]

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.

You should listen to Satnag trying to pronounce some of the Welsh names, almost as entertaining as Steve Wright on Radio 2 pronouncing Scottish place names!
Where are you heading in Wales this week?

 

[irnbru]

Wee Bold Davy No idea just never been to Wales. Perhaps I will start a thread and ask the Q.

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[ambulancekidd]

That'll teach em a lesson.

Teach who? Who are "em"?

 

[Scotch mist]

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.

Not that stupid Garmin again , I though you were giving it Scottish language lessons ?

 

[mitzimad]

why stop at scotland we should do it in england

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[Storr]

I think 'BusyBuilder's' comments sum up the situation here very well. The main problem, once the means of collection of the tax was established, would be ensuring that the money is put back into tourist related services. Reopening of rural public toilets and more frequent waste/recycling collections would be a good start.

 

[frogijock]

A lot depends on who will be subject to the tax i.e.; are children exempt.
How much will the tax be. How will it be collected if you do not stop in a ️ campsite, hotel or boarding house

 

[TinaLes]

A lot depends on who will be subject to the tax i.e.; are children exempt.
How much will the tax be. How will it be collected if you do not stop in a campsite, hotel or boarding house

There will probably be a hard border put in place if Niocola Sturgeon gets her way with the independence vote, and she does, it will be Euros you pay it with as she will also do anything to stay in the EU.

Les

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[scotzsue]

Yet another reason to dump the UK for touring. They all want our money but not us.

we pay tourist tax abroad at every site we stay on, it is also part of the fees at paying aires. I don't have a problem with foreign tourists payng here.

 

[nicholsong]

A lot depends on who will be subject to the tax i.e.; are children exempt.
How much will the tax be. How will it be collected if you do not stop in a campsite, hotel or boarding house

If the tax is introduced I could forsee the Council banning wildcamping in order to collect the maximum tax. We shouldn't give them ideas.

 

[tacr2man]

Roving mobile collectors used to work quite well

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[Ivory55]

May be they will build some pay to use Aires to get an income

 

[Wee Bold Davy]

Wee Bold Davy No idea just never been to Wales. Perhaps I will start a thread and ask the Q.

I can recommend a visit to Betws-y-Coed a little touristy village on the A5 It's got some nice little independent shops and a fair bit of dedicated motorhome parking in the Station Road car park. LL24 0AE There's also the Riverside Touring Park next door.
Try the Royal Oak Hotel for good reasonable priced food.

We also go to Aberaeron which is 18 miles south of Aberystwyth, lovely well kept small coastal town. It's got two camp sites next door to each other and it's less that 10 minute walk along the shore into town. It's got some nice pubs near the harbour and the best fish 'n' chips I've tasted anywhere! The camp sites are called www.campingonthefarm.co.uk and www.Aeroncoast.co.uk
Aeron Coast is a caravan park with a mixture of touring and static pitches and the farm is more basic (our favourite) camping and caravan site.
If you just want to visit the town there is car parking on the shore at the bottom of Regent Street which would be your best bet for parking the 'van

If you fancy visiting Aberystwyth there is parking for coaches and 'vans at Boulevard De Saint Brieuc at the top of Park Avenue which is only 5 minute walk into the town centre. Hope the sun shines for you Sandra

 

[bilM]

An MP calling for investment in the NC500 route has urged the transport minister to consider a toll scheme.
Jamie Stone, MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, has written to Michael Matheson to suggest the plan as a way to pay for more funding for the roads which travel between Inverness and Ullapool in the Highlands.
Mr Stone said despite being a "brilliant boost" to the far north and a benefit to local hotels and businesses, the route need further funding to "reach its full potential".

Only non-local large vehicles, such as camper-vans, would be affected under the scheme.
He said: "The NC500 has been a brilliant boost to the far north, benefiting locals hotels and businesses.
"However, for it to reach its full potential we need to see increased investment into the roads.
"I have previously asked the Scottish Government to increase investment in the NC500 and I have now written to the Transport Minister asking him to consider a tolling scheme for non-local large vehicles like camper-vans.
"This would in no way impact local vehicles but could bring in money which would be earmarked for the maintenance of roads, lay-bys, signs and even toilets.
"A scheme like this would take time and care to implement properly but we must see support from the Scottish Government to ensure the NC500 reaches its full potential."

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[Scotch mist]

For me It’s already reached its potential , its remoteness is its beauty, future development may well alter it’s attraction , an old saying comes to mind , be careful what you wish for cause you might get it
Seems to me they want the tourist money but not the tourists

 

[PeteH]

For me It’s already reached its potential , its remoteness is its beauty, future development may well alter it’s attraction , an old saying comes to mind , be careful what you wish for cause you might get it
Seems to me they want the tourist money but not the tourists

Took most the the thoughts I was thinking too.

Remember here, you are dealing with L-A administrators, they will have the "funding" already spoken for, Starting with things like Yellow Lines, to coral the pesky tourists, and to divert them to area`s controlled by the other members of the "lodge", "research visits" to Thailand and other exotic (sorry tourist) places (of course). The local "Children's" Xmas party with attendant "responsible adults" and the obligatory consumption of the "water of life". The list of spending Idea`s is endless?. "properly funded "aire de repos" for travellers?, Oh err; well we will have to form a committee to look into that, shouldn't take more that 5 years to reach a refusal". Now what's next on the agenda Madame secretary?.

 

[Drifter]

We paid a tourist tax in Sorento earlier this year and thought it was a great idea to invest in the local area, we should all do it
Coming in to wales the other day we paid to get over a bridge, is that not a tourist tax of sorts.
I’d love all local areas to charge it and invest it in parking areas , toilets and the like. Would create local jobs, make it nicer and easier to visit and they would get our wallet contents as a bonus
I couldn’t believe when heading through the lakes area how hard it was to get parked, so we headed on past all the pretty little shops with our wallets full of cash we want to spend until we found somewhere we could go to enjoy the local shops and cafes
If I was one of them I’d be screaming at council bosses to create aires or whatever you want to call them.
So far we are finding wales pretty good after navitaing the narrow bendy roads of a wet snowdonia
Earlier this week we headed to south port and couldn’t get parked so ended up not going there, can’t get my head around a tourist town not making life easy to stop. We ended up cycling to ainsdale and bird dale from site and it was dead nice
England really love yellow lines to the point of it being bonkers so we are sticking in wales for the rest of the week I think. Maybe that’s their tourist tax in disguise

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[PeteH]

We paid a tourist tax in Sorento earlier this year and thought it was a great idea to invest in the local area, we should all do it
Coming in to wales the other day we paid to get over a bridge, is that not a tourist tax of sorts.
I’d love all local areas to charge it and invest it in parking areas , toilets and the like. Would create local jobs, make it nicer and easier to visit and they would get our wallet contents as a bonus
I couldn’t believe when heading through the lakes area how hard it was to get parked, so we headed on past all the pretty little shops with our wallets full of cash we want to spend until we found somewhere we could go to enjoy the local shops and cafes
If I was one of them I’d be screaming at council bosses to create aires or whatever you want to call them.
So far we are finding wales pretty good after navitaing the narrow bendy roads of a wet snowdonia
Earlier this week we headed to south port and couldn’t get parked so ended up not going there, can’t get my head around a tourist town not making life easy to stop. We ended up cycling to ainsdale and bird dale from site and it was dead nice
England really love yellow lines to the point of it being bonkers so we are sticking in wales for the rest of the week I think. Maybe that’s their tourist tax in disguise

Unlikely. See my post no 50! ? ?

 

[SpeedyDux]

Hang on a minute, visitors from England or other parts of the UK should be exempt from any tourist taxes. We are citizens of Scotland too. I'm a local who happens to live 800 miles away.

Besides, we already send huge subsidies to the Scottish government through the Barnett formula. I object to paying twice.

By all means impose a tourist levy on actual foreigners, but don't include me.

 

[Drifter]

I agree visitors from England should get a special deal..... I suggest double what everyone else pays as they are such a nice generous bunch as we see. Cheers guys ?

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