Con­sulta­tion Response to High­land Coun­cil Vis­it­or Levy proposal

Back­ground

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity is a Non-Depart­ment­al Pub­lic Body (NDPB) with respons­ib­il­ity for the UK’s largest Nation­al Park. It is split between five loc­al author­ity areas: High­land; Moray; Aber­deen­shire; Angus and Perth and Kinross. Roughly one third of the Nation­al Park’s land falls with­in the High­land Coun­cil area and this is home to the major­ity of the Park’s pop­u­la­tion, vis­it­ors and tour­ism businesses.

The Park Author­ity under­takes some work that would usu­ally be the respons­ib­il­ity of the Loc­al Author­ity, act­ing as the Plan­ning Author­ity and Out­door Access Author­ity for the Nation­al Park. We pub­lish a Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan and a five-yearly Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan (NPPP), along with sup­port­ing action plans includ­ing a Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan and Stra­tegic Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Plan. The NPPP is the stra­tegic man­age­ment plan for the Nation­al Park area and guides the work of the Park Author­ity and part­ners. Pub­lic bod­ies (includ­ing Loc­al Author­it­ies) must, in exer­cising func­tions so far as affect­ing a Nation­al Park, have regard to the Nation­al Park Plan.

Nation­al Parks and the Vis­it­or Levy (Scot­land) Act 2024

In May 2024, the Scot­tish Par­lia­ment passed the Vis­it­or Levy (Scot­land) Act. This Act gives loc­al author­it­ies the abil­ity to charge a set per­cent­age on overnight accom­mod­a­tion. Nation­al Park Author­it­ies are men­tioned with­in the Act as a spe­cif­ic con­sul­tee when intro­du­cing a levy or spend­ing the pro­ceeds of a scheme. The Act also notes that Loc­al Author­it­ies should have regard to the NPPP.

We sug­gest that any scheme that includes part of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park should:

a) Recog­nise the tour­ism object­ives with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan, the actions of Cairngorms Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan and pro­jects iden­ti­fied in the Cairngorms Stra­tegic Tour­ism Infrastructure

Plan and use these as the basis for the invest­ment of pro­ceeds of the Vis­it­or Levy with­in the Council’s area of the Nation­al Park.

b) Include the Park Author­ity in the mem­ber­ship of the Vis­it­or Levy Forum.

c) Out­line a mech­an­ism for invest­ment of funds in ser­vices or infra­struc­ture where these are delivered by Park Author­it­ies or mul­tiple part­ners rather than the Loc­al Author­ity alone.

Response to con­sulta­tion questions

1. Respond­ent Category As detailed above.

2. The Scheme Area The High­land Coun­cil (THC) pro­posed pos­i­tion: The levy will apply to pur­chases of overnight accom­mod­a­tion through­out the whole of the High­land Coun­cil area.

Park Author­ity Response: We gen­er­ally sup­port the Council’s pos­i­tion but recom­mend mon­it­or­ing the impacts of Levy in order that the Coun­cil can modi­fy the scheme or mit­ig­ate any neg­at­ive impacts it may create.

3. The date on which the scheme is due to come into force THC Pro­posed pos­i­tion: The Vis­it­or Levy Scheme will come into force by the High­land Coun­cil at the earli­est prac­tic­able date as per­mit­ted by law, giv­ing due regard to the Act and the Council’s decision-mak­ing pro­cesses. The Coun­cil anti­cip­ates intro­du­cing the Vis­it­or Levy Scheme in High­land by Autumn 2026.

Park Author­ity Response: We do not have a view on the pre­cise date that the Levy should come into force, but our view is that the date should be determ­ined by the time the Coun­cil require to cre­ate the best scheme fol­low­ing con­sulta­tion before trig­ger­ing the 18-month peri­od before imple­ment­a­tion. Like the Coun­cil, we are aware of tour­ism and hos­pit­al­ity industry con­cerns over the detail and implic­a­tions of the pro­pos­als and recom­mend that a more com­pre­hens­ive eco­nom­ic impact assess­ment of the pro­pos­als is under­taken to sup­port the Council’s final proposals.

4. The scheme period

THC pro­posed pos­i­tion: Fol­low­ing its intro­duc­tion in High­land by Autumn 2026, the Vis­it­or Levy Scheme will remain in force until fur­ther notice (indef­in­itely).

Park Author­ity Response: We sug­gest that the impacts of the scheme are reg­u­larly reviewed so that the detail of the scheme can be amended if con­sidered necessary.

5. When will the levy apply THC pro­posed pos­i­tion: The vis­it­or levy will apply every day of the year without variation.

Park Author­ity Response: We recog­nise the sim­pli­city of the Council’s pos­i­tion but note that sea­son­al­ity of vis­it­ors is an issue for the Cairngorms Nation­al Park and oth­er parts of the High­lands. We recom­mend mon­it­or­ing the impacts of Levy in order that the Coun­cil can modi­fy the scheme or mit­ig­ate any neg­at­ive impacts if it appears to be exacer­bat­ing issues of seasonality.

6. The rate of the levy THC pro­posed pos­i­tion: The levy rate will be 5% in respect of the accom­mod­a­tion por­tion of the chargeable transaction.

Park Author­ity Response: None

7. The Scheme’s objectives THC pro­posed pos­i­tion: The aim of the intro­duc­tion of a Vis­it­or Levy Scheme in High­land is to sus­tain­ably man­age the vis­it­or eco­nomy and the move­ment of vis­it­ors through the max­im­isa­tion of co-invest­ment oppor­tun­it­ies that sus­tain, sup­port or devel­op facil­it­ies or ser­vices which are sub­stan­tially used by those vis­it­ing for leis­ure or busi­ness purposes.

The Vis­it­or Levy Scheme Object­ives are to:

a) Sus­tain pub­lic ser­vices and infra­struc­ture used by busi­nesses, com­munit­ies and vis­it­ors to ensure the impacts of vis­it­ors are stra­tegic­ally and sus­tain­ably managed.

b) Sup­port the deliv­ery of a thriv­ing tour­ism sec­tor offer­ing a wide range of vis­it­or exper­i­ences by work­ing togeth­er, in part­ner­ship, with busi­nesses, vis­it­ors and communities.

c) Devel­op innov­at­ive approaches to bal­ance stra­tegic demands and oppor­tun­it­ies ensur­ing that High­land achieves its full poten­tial as a highly posi­tioned des­tin­a­tion for visitors.

The Vis­it­or Levy Scheme Object­ives togeth­er with the Council’s Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Strategy will provide the stra­tegic dir­ec­tion for mak­ing those decisions.

The Coun­cil will engage with the Vis­it­or Levy For­um to help inform a Deliv­ery Pro­gramme, set­ting out the neces­sary invest­ment plans and actions to deliv­er the Scheme’s object­ives to sus­tain, sup­port or devel­op, facil­it­ies and ser­vices which are sub­stan­tially for or used by per­sons vis­it­ing the loc­al author­ity area for leis­ure or busi­ness purposes.

As part of the High­land Coun­cil area is des­ig­nated with­in the Cairngorm Nation­al Park, the Coun­cil will reg­u­larly engage with the Cairngorm Nation­al Park Author­ity and have regard to the Cairngorm NPPP.

Park Author­ity Response: We wel­come recog­ni­tion of the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan, which is an example of best prac­tice in devel­op­ing a multi- stake­hold­er plan for an area. The Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan is in part delivered through the actions of the Cairngorms Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan and pro­jects iden­ti­fied in the Cairngorms Stra­tegic Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Plan and we ask that these plans are used as the basis for the invest­ment of pro­ceeds of the Vis­it­or Levy with­in the Council’s area of the Nation­al Park. We con­sider that these plans provide a strong part­ner­ship and place-based frame­work with­in the Nation­al Park for the Deliv­ery Pro­gramme that accom­pan­ies the Council’s proposals.

8. Review of the Council’s decisions relat­ing to the Vis­it­or Levy Scheme THC pro­posed pos­i­tion: Annu­al reports will be pre­pared for the Vis­it­or Levy Scheme and will include a range of inform­a­tion, for example, how the net pro­ceeds have

been used and pro­gress on achiev­ing the Scheme object­ives. These reports will be presen­ted to the rel­ev­ant Stra­tegic Com­mit­tee or a meet­ing of the High­land Council.

At least every three years a review of the Scheme will be under­taken, and a report of the find­ings will be presen­ted to the rel­ev­ant Stra­tegic Com­mit­tee or a meet­ing of the High­land Council.

The Coun­cil will share and engage with the Vis­it­or Levy For­um regard­ing these reports and will seek advice from the For­um on rel­ev­ant mat­ters, includ­ing oper­a­tion of the Vis­it­or Levy Scheme in Highland.

Park Author­ity Response: We recom­mend that the role and advice of the Vis­it­or Levy For­um in mon­it­or­ing and review of the scheme is cla­ri­fied. The Vis­it­or Levy For­um should be able to help the Coun­cil by provid­ing extern­al advice and veri­fic­a­tion of data and impact to inform the three-yearly reports and sup­port the Council’s decision-making.

9. Loc­al Exemptions THC pro­posed pos­i­tion: To ensure the admin­is­tra­tion of the Scheme is kept to a min­im­um, and to max­im­ise the rev­en­ues gen­er­ated to sus­tain, sup­port and devel­op the vis­it­or eco­nomy, the Coun­cil will not exer­cise its dis­cre­tion to apply loc­al exemp­tions. The Vis­it­or Levy Scheme will be pay­able by all accom­mod­a­tion busi­nesses, includ­ing those which have an annu­al turnover below the VAT threshold.

Park Author­ity Response: We note the Council’s pos­i­tion but sug­gest that it under­takes a more detailed eco­nom­ic impact apprais­al to sup­port this pos­i­tion and that it (with the Nation­al Park Authority’s sup­port in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park) mon­it­ors for impacts on levels of road­side and inform­al camp­ing that does not fall with­in out­door access rights, in order that any adverse impacts can be mit­ig­ated by the scheme or the pro­ceeds of the Levy.

10. Nation­al exemp­tions and exclusions THC pro­posed pos­i­tion: As these are pre­scribed in the Act, the High­land Coun­cil will include these exemp­tions and exclu­sions in its Vis­it­or Levy Scheme.

Park Author­ity Response: None.

11. Reim­burse­ment Arrange­ments for Admin­is­tra­tion of Nation­al Exemp­tions and Exclusions THC pro­posed pos­i­tion: The High­land Coun­cil will adopt the Nation­al Digit­al Portal being developed for the vis­it­or levy in Scot­land. This Nation­al Digit­al Portal is being designed to:

a) Enable accom­mod­a­tion pro­viders to remit col­lec­ted levies to their loc­al authority.

b) For eli­gible vis­it­ors to claim reim­burse­ment where a nation­al exemp­tion applies, for example, those in receipt of bene­fits, pay­ments or allow­ances for a dis­ab­il­ity as pre­scribed with­in the Act.

c) For eli­gible vis­it­ors to provide evid­ence to sup­port their claim for reimbursement.

d) For loc­al author­it­ies to veri­fy and decide claims for nation­al exemp­tions and to reim­burse levies for eli­gible visitors.

e) For loc­al author­it­ies to admin­is­ter and man­age col­lec­tions of the levies.

Park Author­ity Response: None

12. How the High­land Coun­cil will make decisions on the net proceeds THC pro­posed Pos­i­tion: The High­land Coun­cil will estab­lish a Vis­it­or Levy For­um with­in six-months of decid­ing to imple­ment a Vis­it­or Levy Scheme, with rep­res­ent­a­tion from High­land tour­ism busi­nesses, com­munit­ies and rel­ev­ant tour­ism organ­isa­tions. The For­um will have an import­ant role in con­sid­er­ing and advising on the use of the net pro­ceeds. The For­um will be advis­ory, and its pur­pose will be to provide advice to the Coun­cil in a num­ber of areas relat­ing to the oper­a­tion of a Vis­it­or Levy Scheme.

The Council’s gov­ernance arrange­ments for decision-mak­ing will be used to make the decisions on the use of the net pro­ceeds from the scheme. These decisions will be made by Stra­tegic Com­mit­tees or at meet­ings of the High­land Council.

The Scheme object­ives togeth­er with the Council’s Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Strategy will provide the stra­tegic dir­ec­tion for mak­ing those decisions.

Park Author­ity Response: We are pleased to be part of the Vis­it­or Levy For­um and that the Coun­cil intends to engage reg­u­larly with the Park Author­ity and to have regard to the NPPP, but as we have noted in oth­er answers, we con­sider that the Coun­cil should also recog­nise the value of the Cairngorms Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan and the Cairngorms Stra­tegic Tour­ism Infra­struc­ture Plan as a basis for the invest­ment of pro­ceeds of the Vis­it­or Levy with­in the Council’s area of the Nation­al Park. We also encour­age the Coun­cil to con­sider estab­lish­ing a fund for medi­um and long-term invest­ment in lar­ger stra­tegic pro­jects that could be a poten­tial lever for borrowing.

13. Addi­tion­al Information. Park Author­ity Response: We recog­nise the chal­lenge the Coun­cil faces in intro­du­cing a vis­it­or levy scheme and the poten­tial oppor­tun­ity it presents to sup­port the High­lands. We know that the Coun­cil has worked hard to improve the effect­ive­ness of its engage­ment with the tour­ism and hos­pit­al­ity industry dur­ing this con­sulta­tion. We recom­mend that the Coun­cil main­tains that engage­ment and sup­ports it with fur­ther detail on the eco­nom­ic, social and envir­on­ment­al impacts of the pro­posed levy scheme as well as on the poten­tial use of income from the levy pro­ceeds to help allay busi­ness sec­tor fears and provide clar­ity and reas­sur­ance to sup­port their busi­ness planning.