In response to Highland Council councillors passing the current proposals for the visitor levy legislation to consultation, at a special Full Council meeting today (Tuesday 25 August 2026), our Chief Executive, Colin Marr has made this statement:
“Highland Council officers have been working constructively with the business community, through a shadow visitor levy forum, for several months now to design the best proposal possible for a visitor levy within the constraints of the current legislation. That work has been positive and there has been a strong collaborative approach towards co-designing the visitor levy.
“However, that work is not finished yet.
“The economic impact assessment (EIA) has not been completed and that study will give vital information on how the proposed levy will impact visitor behaviour. For the visitor levy scheme that was previously proposed, the EIA showed that there would be a 3.75% drop in tourism. That drop would be very bad for our region. This new proposal should lead to a smaller reduction, but whatever the estimated reduction is needs to be mitigated by spending some of the proceeds on targeted marketing to replace the lost tourists.
“The visitor levy forum has also not yet seen plans for how the spending of the proceeds of the levy will be governed. It is essential that there is industry involvement baked into this.
“We are therefore disappointed that councillors today agreed to proceed to the formal consultation stage before this work is complete. A delay of two or three months would have allowed the forum to complete its work and for a fully informed scheme to go into the consultation phase. Instead, the public will now be asked to a respond to a scheme without being able to see the full picture.
“In designing this levy we must remember that our accommodation sector is already heavily taxed compared to their European (and even compared to their English) colleagues. The problem is that the multiple taxes, that accommodation providers already pay, get stuck at Westminster and Holyrood and therefore Highland Council doesn’t have enough money to deal with tourism infrastructure requirements. So, the accommodation sector will always have a good argument – based on competitiveness against the UK and European market – for why the visitor levy shouldn’t happen. And Highland Council will always have a good argument for why the levy is necessary as they need the income to support the required infrastructure.
“That’s why fully completing the work that is being undertaken with the business community was essential before entering the consultation phase and why we are dismayed at the unnecessary haste of today’s decision”.