Thank you to Peter Ranscombe and @Lawscot Journal for the opportunity to contribute some thoughts about the current state of play with the Visitor Levy in Scotland. It's time for government to pause for thought. https://t.co/LB1zBikFN7

Many thanks to @heraldscotland for highlighting the very real issues that small businesses in Edinburgh are facing as @Edinburgh_CC rushes to reap the rewards of its Visitor Levy. It's clear that we need to pause and get this mess sorted. https://t.co/8bRCJR0fI5

The two biggest accommodation booking platforms are not fully set up to apply Edinburgh’s new ‘tourist tax’ despite charges taking effect this month:

The @st_alliance and the @ASSCnews, supported by a broad coalition of industry bodies, want the @scotgov to make the change through an Expedited Visitor Levy (Scotland) Reform Bill. “Ministers have shown openness to reform – now we need urgent action to deliver it. This is not

You'd assume it's straight forward enough for these major booking sites to automatically apply a 5% visitor levy, capped at 5 nights, to bookings at the point they are made Apparently, it isn't, in large part because the levy is a % and not a flat rate: https://t.co/aeghAbPPJs

🔴EXC: The two biggest accommodation booking sites are not fully equipped to apply Edinburgh’s tourist tax, despite the levy taking effect this month for Summer 2026 bookings Investigation for ⁦@heraldscotland⁩ 👇 https://t.co/aeghAbPhTU

This is a chaotic shambles - and someone needs to take leadership and call a halt. Accommodation providers didn’t have 9 months to prepare when @Edinburgh_CC only sent formal comms on 17 Sept, some arriving this week by untracked post. You can’t lay this at the doors of @Airbnb

Over-eager Meagher's botched tourist tariff clearly not ready..

Let's have a levy that raises £1.9M in @WDCouncil with zero idea of the damage that it will cause to the local economy. Time to stop this botched scheme. @_KateForbes @Ivan_McKee https://t.co/8axa6ievIl

37 million visitor night stays in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 a year. A simple £2 flat levy would raise £74M. Instead we have a highly complex % based visitor levy, of questionable legality, now shunned by multiple councils as it's too complex and costly. What a mess. @Ivan_McKee @_KateForbes

Day 7 of the Edinburgh Visitor Levy. Their scheme is not compliant with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) or The Price Marking Order 2004. Lets levy legally guys. @Ivan_McKee @_KateForbes @Edinburgh_CC

@murdo_fraser @argyllandbute @scotgov @st_alliance @ASSCnews The FM recently went to Washington to try to get tariffs reduced on Scotch. Meanwhile @theSNP are imposing their own self- inflicted tariffs on Scottish Tourism through the Visitor Levy (Tax). Economic Vandalism.

Day 5 of the Edinburgh Transient Visitor Levy. @Edinburgh_CC plan to spend £5M annually on affordable housing breaching the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024, which requires funds for "visitor services". @Ivan_McKee @_KateForbes

Day 4 of the Edinburgh Transient Visitor Levy. Only @Edinburgh_CC could launch a scheme to gather revenue with no means to pay the levy back to them. @Ivan_McKee

"Self-catering properties are not lying empty: they are active, regulated, vital contributors to Scotland's vital tourism sector, generating £1billion annually and supporting thousands of jobs" @Ross_Greer @FionaCampbell74 @SaveSCScotland

Day 3 of the Edinburgh Transient Visitor Levy. Multiple reports incoming of hotel and booking systems failing to apply the 5 day stay limit to the application of the Levy.. visitors now being scammed. Make something complicated @ivanmckee its gets complicated. Time to ditch.

Time to scrap accommodation tariffs that Scots will have to pay. Stop damaging the visitor economy. @Ivan_McKee @MairiMcAllan @_KateForbes

East Ayrshire says no thanks to Visitor Levy “By becoming the sixth Scottish council to pause or reverse plans – alongside Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles, South Ayrshire, and Argyll and Bute – East Ayrshire joins a growing wave of local authorities who are rightly

'Not viable': Council rejects introduction of visitor levy https://t.co/7bw2c84Ocn

The 'triple whammy' taking the wind out of Edinburgh's tourism sails "Edinburgh may have enjoyed record visitor numbers this summer but many hospitality and tourism-related companies report lower profits due to underlying financial challenges" says Scott Wright