Paper 3 THC Visitor levy consultation response cover

Form­al Board Paper 3 28 March 2025 Page 1 of 4

For decision Title: Con­sulta­tion Response to High­land Coun­cil Vis­it­or Levy Pro­pos­al Pre­pared by: Gav­in Miles, Dir­ect­or of Plan­ning and Place Heath­er Trench, Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Officer Pur­pose To dis­cuss and agree a response to the High­land Coun­cil Vis­it­or Levy con­sulta­tion. High­land Coun­cil are the first Loc­al Author­ity with­in the Park to bring for­ward a pro­pos­al under the Vis­it­or Levy (Scot­land) Act 2024.

Recom­mend­a­tions The Board is asked to: a) Agree and approve the Park Author­ity response to High­land Council’s Vis­it­or Levy consultation.

Stra­tegic context

1. 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 do not have any powers to intro­duce a levy but are men­tioned with­in the Act as a spe­cif­ic con­sul­tee when intro­du­cing a Levy or spend­ing the pro­ceeds. The Act also notes that Loc­al Author­it­ies should have regard to the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan (NPPP).

2. Along­side the legis­la­tion, a work­ing group led by Vis­itScot­land pulled togeth­er a sub­stan­tial amount of stat­utory guid­ance for Loc­al Author­it­ies, details of which can be found at Vis­it­or Levy Guid­ance I Vis​itScot​land​.org

3. High­land Coun­cil are the first Loc­al Author­ity with­in the Nation­al Park to bring for­ward a pro­pos­al for con­sulta­tion, but all five are con­sid­er­ing the oppor­tun­ity and could each intro­duce vis­it­or levy pro­pos­als in future. The legis­la­tion allows Loc­al Author­it­ies dis­cre­tion on many ele­ments of the scheme, includ­ing the per­cent­age Form­al Board Paper 3 28 March 2025 Page 2 of 4

4. rate of the levy and options for loc­al exemp­tions, for example by accom­mod­a­tion sec­tor, geo­graph­ic­al loc­a­tion or season.

The Cairngorms Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Action Plan, which helps imple­ment the NPPP, con­tains an action to: ​‘Engage with stake­hold­ers to ensure the Scot­tish Government’s pro­pos­als for a loc­al vis­it­or levy meet the needs of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park’.

High­land Council’s Vis­it­or Levy Proposal

1. On 14 Novem­ber 2024, High­land Council’s Eco­nomy and Infra­struc­ture Com­mit­tee approved an out­line Vis­it­or Levy Scheme for stat­utory con­sulta­tion between 15 Novem­ber 2024 and 31 March 2025. Details of the pro­posed scheme are avail­able at: Vis­it­or Levy Con­sulta­tion | Vis­it­or Levy | The High­land Council.

2. Key ele­ments of the pro­posed scheme include a year-round flat 5% levy rate on overnight stays in most forms of vis­it­or accom­mod­a­tion includ­ing hotels, hos­tels, bed and break­fasts, guest houses, self-cater­ing units and cara­van and camp sites. The Coun­cil pro­poses that the object­ives of the Levy will be:

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

4. 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.

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

6. The Coun­cil pro­poses that the scheme object­ives and the High­land Coun­cil Sus­tain­able Tour­ism Strategy will provide the stra­tegic dir­ec­tion for mak­ing decisions on how to spend the pro­ceeds of the Levy and that 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 Form­al Board Paper 3 28 March 2025 Page 3 of 4

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. The Council’s pro­pos­als note that it will reg­u­larly engage with the Cairngorm Nation­al Park Author­ity and have regard to the Cairngorm NPPP.

Engage­ment on High­land Council’s Proposal

1. High­land Coun­cil officers have met dir­ectly with Park Author­ity staff to dis­cuss the pro­pos­als and have also engaged with the Park Author­ity, part­ners and busi­nesses through a range of meet­ings and events includ­ing the Cairngorms Tour­ism Part­ner­ship, the High­land Tour­ism Part­ner­ship, and via a Cairngorms Busi­ness Part­ner­ship con­sulta­tion event.

2. In Janu­ary 2025, High­land Coun­cil estab­lished a Vis­it­or Levy ref­er­ence group com­prised of key part­ners and busi­ness organ­isa­tions to advise on the pro­pos­als and help inform the next stages of the work. The Park Author­ity is included in the group.

Pro­posed Response to High­land Coun­cil Consultation

1. The sug­ges­ted response is included as Annex 1 to this paper and include a gen­er­al pos­i­tion state­ment that sets out gen­er­al prin­ciples for the Park Author­ity in rela­tion to any Loc­al Author­ity Vis­it­or Levy pro­pos­als and more detailed responses to the spe­cif­ic points of the High­land Coun­cil pro­pos­al that may impact the work of the Park Authority.

Oth­er Loc­al Author­ity Plans

1. The four oth­er Loc­al Author­it­ies cov­er­ing the Nation­al Park are each con­sid­er­ing intro­du­cing vis­it­or levy pro­pos­als but have not yet made form­al decisions or launched con­sulta­tions. Most are under­tak­ing early engage­ment and invest­ig­a­tion of poten­tial options, and each coun­cil is liais­ing with Park Author­ity officers as they pro­gress their work.

Next steps

1. After the con­sulta­tion peri­od, High­land Coun­cil officers will ana­lyse the res­ults and pre­pare a report for Coun­cil mem­bers recom­mend­ing wheth­er the pro­pos­al, or a Form­al Board Paper 3 28 March 2025 Page 4 of 4

revised ver­sion of it should be taken for­ward. If a Vis­it­or Levy were to be agreed by the Coun­cil, the earli­est it could come into force would be 18 months after the date of that decision.

Gav­in Miles 13 March 2025 Gavinmiles@​cairngorms.​co.​uk

Heath­er Trench 13 March 2025 heathertrench@​cairngorms.​co.​uk