Chamber and committees

There is nothing in the bill that would prevent a council such as the City of Edinburgh Council from saying, “If you have a family member to stay, that can be an exemption.” A booking system could include that.

Okay. One would imagine, in that case, that the council would want to have that defined before it took forward a levy, given its responsibilities.

That is helpful.

Did you want to come in as well, John St Clair?

I am sure that a lot of Edinburgh residents will be keen for that to be included.

To go back to what you said earlier, it is a sad situation that a lot of hotels and guesthouses in Edinburgh are currently being used as temporary or emergency accommodation. Am I right in saying that that is not captured under the tax? You touched on the situation of Ukrainian refugees and people fleeing domestic abuse who might, in an emergency, be housed in a hotel or a guesthouse.

I wonder what the legal definition is. I know from casework that people often move between hotels or guesthouses, depending on availability, especially during the festival, when hotels want to empty the property and keep it purely for tourists’ use. Is there a legal definition of “main emergency accommodation”?

The point about different periods was touched on earlier. The Edinburgh festival is a one-off. I used to work, however, in the tourism industry in Perthshire, which is very seasonal. Do you expect exemptions and flexibility to be for winter months only, and that the tax will not necessarily be applied then in order to ensure that, for example, the Highlands are not discouraging people during quiet periods?

That is helpful. Thank you.

Thanks for that. As we have heard, the tourism sector, especially here in Edinburgh, is significant to our economy, particularly given the Edinburgh festival. The Scottish Government has had a number of concerns put to it around the fact that VAT is applied to accommodation in the UK, and it is among the highest in Europe. The majority of EU companies operating tourist tax have notably lower rates on accommodation than the UK VAT rate. How have you responded to those concerns from the sector?

That is good to hear.