Tourist levy for the isles “some years away”​

That is the view of Sarah Maclean, chief executive of Outer Hebrides Tourism, as a period of “pre-consultation” ended last Friday. It was commissioned by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and their counterparts in Orkney and Shetland from consultants Urban Foresight.

Ms Maclean said that there had been “a lot of misunderstanding” with many people thinking this was the consultation which could lead to a visitor levy being introduced, following legislation at Holyrood which creates this power for local authorities.

In fact, it is a “pre-consultation” and when the consultants report it will then be up to the Comhairle to decide whether to proceed with a formal consultation and on what basis.

Ms Maclean pointed out that the legislation includes provision for an 18 month formal consultation period so that talk of 2027 being a “target date” for introduction of a levy now seems “unlikely, to say the least”.

While Outer Hebrides Tourism supports the principle of a “point of entry” charge, she said the idea of a levy falling upon accommodation providers is “not popular”, based on feedback from recent events, and smaller businesses are “understandably unhappy about having to collect and report”.

Ms Maclean said: “Although it is the visitor who will pay, there are hidden costs for accommodation providers who would have to adapt their pricing structure as well as the additional time spent on administration.

“In some cases, there are concerns it would push small businesses over the VAT threshold and an option in the legislation of making it only for VAT-registered businesses doesn’t work here because the great majority of accommodation providers are seasonal, small businesses”.

Ms Maclean said: “There is just a feeling that accommodation businesses are disproportionately picking up the tab of the collection model. They have had enough pressures over the past few years and this would just push some of them over the edge.

“We are fully supportive of those businesses. Our own preference would be for a port of entry model which captures everyone but the Scottish Government ruled that out in favour of the accommodation based model”.

She said this needs to be reconsidered along with the inclusion of cruise ship visitors, about which the Scottish Government launched a separate consultation in February. OHT supports the need for a revenue stream to underpin its own activities as well as improved facilities such as toilets and tourist car parking.

Ms Maclean said: “The question is – would a port of entry model work for island communities and the answer is, yes it would. This is where we differ from opponents of any kind of levy. I don’t think the vast majority of visitors would have any issue paying a couple of pounds on a ferry fare rather than putting the burden solely on accommodation providers”.

The Comhairle is expected to discuss next steps by the summer.