On May 28th, 2024, the Scottish Parliament held the Stage 3 vote for the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill.
The results were as follows:
✅ Yes – 83
❌ No – 27
🟣 Abstain – 4
“In pushing through the Visitor Levy legislation, the Scottish Government has shown that they haven’t learned from the disastrous rollout of STL legislation. While ASSC has welcomed the opportunity to participate in cross party engagement to endeavour to get this right, and that regulation in certain areas should be welcomed, we are concerned once more about the unintended consequences of this legislation.
“Scottish tourism has been hit incredibly hard in the last few years, and this will only add to the burden that small tourism providers across the country will face. Given the challenging climate that Scottish tourism is operating in – from falling visitor numbers, ongoing pandemic recovery, cost of living and STL regulations – now is not the time for this legislation, as it brings yet further red tape and costs to Scotland’s hard-pressed tourism sector.”
Fiona Campbell, ASSC Chief Executive
Listen back to last night’s episode of BBC Scotland Radio’s Drive Time with Martin Geissler, featuring Fiona Campbell, who discusses the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill and its impact on the self-catering sector.
“For the small accommodation sector, this is yet another regulatory burden, on top of short-term let licensing and planning, the FHL abolition…”
“It starts becoming untenable for operators.”
“People are still recovering from Covid and the cost of living crisis.”
“We are in one of the most expensive places in Europe. Other places, such as Germany, do not have a 20% VAT rate. We’ve got to be careful we don’t put people off.”