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THE City of Edinburgh has become the first local authority in Scotland to agree to levy a tourist tax.
At a meeting of the council, held online as Storm Eowyn scythed across Scotland, elected members backed a 5 per cent charge on hotels, bed and breakfasts and holiday let stays in the city.
The tax will apply to bookings made after May 1 this year, for stays from July 24 2026 onwards, and is expected to swell council coffers to the tune of £50 million a year.
The Federation of Small Businesses’ Garry Clark accused the council of a “headlong rush to be the first” to introduce the charge after Holyrood passed legislation to levy it last year.
But in the run-up to the vote, Labour council leaderJane Meagher argued it would “benefit our city, our residents and our visitors for many years to come.”
She said: “At all stages of this process, we’ve listened to, and taken account of, the views of residents, industry and other stakeholders — and we mustn’t lose sight of just how much positivity there is for the scheme across all of these groups.”
