Glasgow City Council is to set up a team examining the case for introducing a tourist tax for visitors, The Herald has learned. The move follows councillors in Edinburgh last week backing a plan to introduce the charge, officially known as the transient visitor levy, which it has been estimated could generate £50m for services in the capital. Consideration is now to be given on whether Scotland's largest city should follow suit with officials examining the potential of how much a tourist tax could generate as part of broader range of proposals on using of new powers given to local authorities to bring in extra money.
The work will be part of the local authority's budget setting process which is finalised early next year. "As part of our budget this year, we are looking at a number of service reform projects – this includes establishing a project team that will be expected to examine the business case for new and emerging income-generation powers, including a transient visitor levy," a spokesman for Glasgow City Council told The Herald. "Any detailed proposal would still need to come back to committee for a decision in the future.
" Edinburgh city council had long championed the policy but progress on bringing it in was slow after the Scottish Government put legislation to hand over powers to local authorities on hold during the pandemic and the aftermath of the crisis as businesses tried to recover. Under the plans for Edinburgh, which it is hoped will be rolled out in time.