Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you.

We previously agreed to take the next items in private. As that was the last public item on today’s agenda, I close the public part of the meeting.

I am just going to ask another question here, rather than put it to everyone individually. I will start with Gary Curley and then I will come back to Cathy Earnshaw. What are your thoughts—positive or negative—on a visitor levy?

I will not labour the point because of the time, but I understand that, because of Covid, a lot of people got used to enjoying their drinking time at home with friends, and they do not now go to pubs in general. I am trying to understand whether profits are down across the board.

The next item on our agenda is to take evidence from two panels of witnesses on the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill. I welcome our first panel, who have joined us in the room. Marc Crothall is chief executive officer at the Scottish Tourism Alliance, Leon Thompson is executive director at UKHospitality Scotland, and Rob Dickson is director of industry and destination development at VisitScotland.

We will try to direct our questions to specific witnesses where possible, but if you want to comment, please indicate to me or the clerks. There is no need for you to turn your microphones on manually as that will be done automatically.

First, I am interested to hear your perspectives on tourist taxes across Europe. They are common and they do not seem to deter tourists. What are your thoughts on that? Perhaps Rob Dickson will answer first.

Thank you.

My next question is specifically for Rob Dickson. We have heard representatives of accommodation providers say that the bill gives the impression that Scotland has a problem with tourism and that there may be a risk of reputational damage. I am interested to hear your thoughts on that, given that VisitScotland’s main role is to market Scotland to UK and international tourists.

Thanks very much for that, Sheila. We definitely have more questions for this session. Julia Amour, could I come to you with the same three questions?

Stephanie Callaghan asked about the business improvement district model in Manchester, and I am interested in hearing your thoughts on that.

Yes, it is very different, but I understand that mooring the boat would be included in the levy, so people would be charged an accommodation levy and would pay for the other services on top of that.

I am not asking you to answer that question or come up with a solution on the hoof, but I think that it is interesting. Once you get into the detail of a nuanced situation, you uncover these practices. People enjoy experiencing Scotland in a particular way, and how do you handle a double charge?

I will move on and bring in Pam Gosal.

You are part of the expert group that has been looking into this work. I take your point that consultation will be critical and that we must remember that a levy will not be introduced as soon as the legislation is enacted—a local authority will have to consult before it can introduce a levy. However, has the expert group explored how money from the levy could be collected on behalf of a council? Have you had discussions about that?