29
Taxation
Below:
Kate Nicholls,
CEO,
UKHospitality
those who live here? A
tourist tax is a proven
model.”
Cuts cause concern
To complicate matters
further, Edinburgh City
Council has more recently
announced a proposed
89% cut to Edinburgh’s marketing
budget over the course of the next
two years. The council’s promotion of
the tourist tax as a means to fund
marketing in Edinburgh seems at
odds with its proposal to cut the
city’s marketing budget by such an
enormous amount.
Trade association UKinbound
urged the council to reconsider the
proposal at its recent annual
convention. And Donnelly, who
advocates for the tax, has
understandably come out against
the cut. He
commented: “[The 89%
cut] would have serious
consequences for the city’s
economy.
“Without a body that unites public
and private sectors in the city’s
promotion and economic
development, we will severely
compromise the city’s ability to
attract talent, conferences, business
and visitors.”
Speaking in support of Convention
Edinburgh, the business tourism arm
of Marketing Edinburgh, leaders from
across fields including medical
sciences, paediatrics, ecology and
“Tourism
minister
Michael
Ellis said he
would not
be giving
councils the
authority to
implement
a tourism
tax.”
data sciences, have voiced their
concern that the cuts would not only
damage the city’s future as a
superior conference and meeting
destination, but the ‘world-leading
academic ecosystem’ Edinburgh is
renowned for.
The debate over the TVL in
Scotland is finely poised. There are
big players on both sides, many with
conflicting interests, and there are
also some big players in the middle,
adopting a neutral stance while the
debate rages on around them.
CN can’t help but wonder if the
proposed 89% budget cut will tip the
scale in favour of those against TVL.
It certainly seems to suggest that
a bed tax in Edinburgh is not devised
solely to offer a financial boost to the
city’s marketing power. Rather, it
seems to be intended to get tourists
to pay for that power, while the
council spends its budget elsewhere.
Whether or not the council can
retain support for a bed tax even in
the wake of the proposed cut
remains to be seen.
According to UKinbound, however,
the implementation of this tax would
make Edinburgh the most expensive
city in Europe.
ELEVATING VENUES ACROSS THE UK BASED ON
THEIR UNIQUENESS, EXCELLENCE & HOSPITALITY
Headline Sponsor 2018
Winner of
Best External Space
Winner of Best Small
Boardroom / Meeting Space
www.conference-news.co.uk
Enter the CHS
Awards today!
CHSAWARDS.CO.UK