Visitor levy - have your say

The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 received Royal Assent in July 2024. This means that local authorities, like South Ayrshire Council, now have the power to impose a levy in respect of persons staying in certain types of accommodation overnight.

The Act requires a local authority operating a visitor levy scheme to use the net proceeds of the scheme to develop, support and sustain facilities and services for or used by visitors to a local authority area for leisure or business purposes. The local authority would set out how these proceeds would be spent with input from a Visitor Levy Forum made up of tourism businesses and local communities.

This would mean facilities and services which are used by visitors as well as residents could receive funding from a visitor levy, depending on the local authority's assessment of whether the facility or service is substantially used by visitors. This is similar to how the local visitor taxes charged in hotels and in other types of accommodation across much of Europe and the US are spent.

South Ayrshire Council is seeking feedback from businesses and residents on whether a visitor levy should be considered for our area and is looking to get your views on the new legislation. This will help us to identify how and if we might take development of a Scheme proposal forward, before we initiate formal consultation on any proposal.