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That was helpful. I call Miles Briggs.

Thank you for making that distinction, because I think that that is right. There are certainly people who wild camp very respectfully. I have heard what we are talking about being called irresponsible camping. Does anybody else want to come in on this?

Paul, do you want to come in?

I am interested in hearing from Bill Lobban and the folks online.

Thanks very much for that. If no one else has anything that really must be put on record, I am going to move on. We still have quite a lot to get through, although we are beginning to touch on some of the other topics.

Thanks. I am checking to see whether anyone else online wants to come in. It has been helpful that a number of witnesses have said that you are working on local tourism strategies, so the levy will not just arrive in a vacuum because you already have relationships and partnership working, and you have strategies on which discussions have been on-going. That is a really useful insight.

I will bring in Mark Griffin.

Thanks, Willie, for that question, which was interesting and brought up more thinking. Both sides have food for thought on this.

This has been a very useful conversation. I thank the witnesses for joining us today, online and in person. I briefly suspend the meeting to allow a changeover of witnesses.

Good morning and welcome to the 25th meeting in 2023 of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. I remind all members and witnesses to ensure that their devices are on silent and that all other notifications are turned off during the meeting. The first item on the agenda is to decide whether to take item 4 in private. Is everyone content to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

The committee has previously agreed to take item 3 in private.

Thanks for that. I will add another question, which Morag Johnston touched on already and others can respond to. I am interested to hear whether the City of Edinburgh Council has done any analysis of the possible economic impacts of a visitor levy. How do you respond to the statements made in last week’s evidence session that a visitor levy will lead to fewer tourists, less spend, reputational damage for Scotland’s industry and lost competitiveness?