The Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC) welcomes the opportunity to provide comments to Urban Foresight’s survey on a potential visitor levy for Dundee. Like many other tourism stakeholders, the ASSC has consistently opposed calls for a visitor levy in order to ensure that Scotland remains as competitive as possible with other visitor destinations. However, should Dundee Council eventually decide to proceed with a visitor levy, it has to be managed appropriately, mitigating negative impacts and avoiding unintended consequences.
We acknowledge the Council’s right to consider this discretionary power, but we urge a more considered and collaborative approach that takes full account of industry input, recent and potential legislative developments, and the practical implications of levy collection on small and micro-businesses across the council area.