I am calling on Perth & Kinross Council to drop its plans for further consultation on a visitor levy that already received overwhelming opposition from businesses across Perth and Kinross.
The council’s own assessment has found that the levy could cost 4% of Perth and Kinross’s £364m tourist economy, roughly £14.5m and 280 jobs.
On Tuesday this week, the Council activated the next phase of consultation on its website and posted several dates for drop-in events across the council area.
I am encouraging constituents to engage with the consultation process and make their voices heard.
It was clear from the first round of consultation that the proposed visitor levy is deeply unpopular among businesses and residents in Perth and Kinross.
And now the Council is pushing on with further consultation, despite their own analysis finding that it could lead to 280 job losses and a cost of millions to the local economy.
Tourism is the mainstay of the local economy and we need more visitors here, not fewer. All a visitor levy will do is drive tourists away to cheaper destinations.
I hope that people will engage with the consultation process and again make it clear to the council that a further tax on hospitality is not what is needed here. Taxing businesses out of existence is not the solution to the financial mess that faces the Council thanks to cuts to local government funding from the SNP Scottish Government.
