THE head of development and economic growth across Argyll and Bute is calling on the council to continue its pause on the so-called tourist tax.
Amendments to the visitor levy are currently going through the legislative process at the Scottish Parliament, and Fergus Murray is advising the local authority to await its outcome before making any decision on the next step.
Giving evidence to the Local Government Committee at Holyrood, Mr Murray said: “At Argyll and Bute, in terms of the visitor levy, it is at a critical stage.
“We have undertaken a 12-week consultation across Argyll and Bute, and there was a significant amount of people that fed back into that consultation based on the original Bill.
“We took a lot of feedback in terms of the practicality of the delivery; concerns over the use of a percentage rate; and we fed that back to our councillors, who made the decision to pause the levy.”
New legislation has been published by the Scottish Government that will give councils more choice in how they design and apply a visitor levy to raise funds for local tourist services.
While local authorities currently have the power to apply a charge on overnight stays based on a percentage of accommodation costs, the Visitor Levy (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill proposes giving councils additional powers to set the levy as a fixed amount.
If passed by Parliament, the legislation will also allow councils to set a range of fixed amounts, such as for different geographical locations, times of year or types of accommodation.
In addition, the Bill clarifies how accommodation providers should report to councils and how levies are applied to sales made through third parties such as travel agents.
Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee said: “When we introduced the original visitor levy legislation, we wanted to empower councils to implement a scheme that was right for their areas and easy to understand for local businesses.
“We worked closely with councils and tourism bodies when the original legislation was considered and passed by Parliament. These new proposals will give councils even more flexibility and provide clarity to businesses.”
Fergus Murray told the committee Argyll and Bute Council decided to pause legislating on an area tourist tax partly because, although there was no guarantee, the council wanted to see if Parliament would pass legislation that met some of the concerns that its consultation heard from businesses and residents.
As this newspaper goes to press, the council is scheduled to discuss the levy.
Mr Murray advised the Holyrood committee the council is still in that position in terms of a pause, and added his recommendation is to maintain that for now.
If the Bill is passed, councils may choose to introduce a visitor levy that is based on either the existing percentage rate model or move to a fixed amount model.
The Bill does not require councils to introduce a levy; it provides additional options for those that choose to do so.
Under a fixed amount model, councils will also be able to apply the levy on a per-person or per-night basis.
Subject to the parliamentary timetable, it is hoped the Bill will be passed in the current session.
