National Visitor Levy Scheme Final Leadership Board 17 09 25

Renfrewshire Council · 17 September 2025
Back to Leadership Board — 17 September 2025 and its agenda

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_____________________________________________________________________
To:  Leadership Board 
On:  17 September 2025
_____________________________________________________________________
Report by: Chief Executive 
_____________________________________________________________________
Heading: National Visitor Levy Scheme 
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1 Summary 
1.1 This report provides an overview of Scotland’s Visitor Levy Scheme.  It
summarises the key elements of legislation, guidance available to local
authorities and the approaches being developed both within the Glasgow City
Region and across the country.  
_____________________________________________________________________ 
2 Recommendations
2.1 It is recommended that the Board:
(i) Notes the work undertaken and progress to date; 
(ii) Authorises the Head of Economy and Development and the Head of
Finance and Procurement to begin formal stakeholder consultation and
develop a visitor levy proposition for Renfrewshire, as set out in section 7
of this report; 
(iii) Notes that further progress on the development of a visitor levy proposition
will be reported to the Board as appropriate.
_____________________________________________________________________
3. Background
3.1 The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 was passed by the Scottish Parliament in
May 2024 and received Royal Assent on 5 July 2024. The Act empowers local
authorities in Scotland to introduce a visitor levy, charged as a percentage rate
on overnight accommodation purchases, to support the enhancement or

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introduction of facilities and services used by visitors to the scheme area, whether
this be for leisure or business purposes.   
3.2 The Act provides for each local authority to determine whether a visitor levy
scheme is appropriate for their area and to set the percentage rate, following a
period of consultation. Outline timelines can be found in the official guidance
(https://www.visitscotland.org/tourism-events-industry/visitor-levy#guidance) 
and in Appendix 1 to this report. The levy applies only to the accommodation part
of any overnight stay and applies to all guests, including residents of Scotland,
with certain exemptions, such as individuals in receipt of disability allowance.
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4 National Context – guidance to date 
4.1 A national advisory group, chaired by VisitScotland and including COSLA, the
Scottish Tourism Alliance, and other public and private sector industry
representatives has produced guidance on the approach to the development of
a visitor levy. The guidance outlines the processes that should be undertaken
and has a heavy emphasis on stakeholder engagement. A working group of
representatives from local authorities, COSLA and other public sector bodies also
meet on a regular basis to consider approaches and share best practice.   
4.2 Several key issues have been identified through these discussions:- 
• Forecasting potential revenues can be a challenge, as no national model or
single data source currently exists;
• Implementation of a visitor levy will incur costs for local authorities. The Act
allows for administrative costs to be covered from monies raised.
• The Scottish Tourism Alliance and UK Hospitality have both indicated that
implementing the levy is likely to impose costs on businesses;
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5 Early Implementation and Benchmarking 
5.1 At a national level, an ‘early adopters’ group of local authorities is leading on the
development and implementation of a levy. Guidance issued by VisitScotland
suggests that the process of implementing a levy scheme would take
approximately 2 years (https://www.visitscotland.org/tourism-events-
industry/visitor-levy#guidance). The first three Councils to formally adopt a levy
have been City of Edinburgh, Glasgow City and Aberdeen City.
5.2 Argyll and Bute Council will be publishing a final report on consultation responses
during September 2025. Highland Council have concluded the consultation and
have not yet set a date for any decision to be made.
5.3 A range of annual levy income estimates from £45 million in City of Edinburgh to
£9 million in Argyll and Bute.  
5.4 VisitScotland have set up a webpage with updates on all proposals by
authorities who are at formal consultation or implementation stage;
https://www.visitscotland.org/tourism-events-industry/visitor-levy#proposed

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5.5 City of Edinburgh Council were the first authority to have approved a visitor levy,
with this expected to be applied to accommodation bookings from July 2026. 
Bookings made on/after 1 October 2025 for stays on/after 24 July 2026 are liable
for the levy. (https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/business/visitor-levy-edinburgh) 
5.6 At City Region level, Glasgow City Council’s Visitor Levy Scheme was approved
at the Council City Administration Committee on 19 June 2025 and will be
implemented from 25 January 2027 (https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/visitorlevy).
This proposes a levy of 5%, providing estimate annual revenue of £16.9 million.  
5.7 West Dunbartonshire Council are proposing a Visitor Levy Scheme of 5%, with
their second stage formal consultation running until 21st October 2025.  
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6 Renfrewshire and a visitor levy
6.1 Renfrewshire’s Tourism Plan 2024–2027 was approved by the Leadership Board
in December 2023.  The Plan sets out a framework to grow Renfrewshire’s tourist
sector and improve the visitor experience by strengthening partnerships between
the public and private sector, developing rural tourism, leveraging Paisley’s
strengths as a gateway destination, and expanding business tourism via
conferences and events.  An independently chaired Tourism Leadership Group
guides delivery of the plan.  
6.2 There has been no external stakeholder engagement to date regarding the
potential for a visitor levy scheme, although this would be a critical aspect moving
forwards.
6.3 To inform a potential approach to a visitor levy within Renfrewshire in this context
officers have been involved in a range of tasks.  This has included attendance at
national and local seminars / events led by VisitScotland and the Scottish Local
Authorities Economic Development (SLAED) Tourism Group in respect of
guidance and implementation of a levy.  Early discussions have also taken place
with the Glasgow City Region Intelligence Hub and University of Edinburgh Data
Lab to explore available data and forecasting models.
6.4 Forecasting potential revenues from the visitor levy for Renfrewshire is a
challenge, as no national model or single data source currently exists.  Feedback
from the GCR Intelligence Hub (using CoStar data for commercial property)
estimated that £2 million of revenue could be raised in Renfrewshire per year
based on the application of a 5% levy. This could increase to approx. £2.6 million
per annum when accounting for increases in the average price of
accommodation, based on previous trends. However, it should be noted that this
does not account for set up or ongoing operational costs and the data requires
significant further analysis to provide clarity.
6.5 It should also be noted that, as the guidance indicates, any funds raised should
develop, support and sustain facilities and services for or used by visitors to a
local authority area for leisure or business purposes.
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7 Next Steps
7.1 In view of the above and progress made by ‘early adopter’ local authorities, it is
proposed that Council officers develop a formal Renfrewshire visitor levy
proposition for members to consider.  This will require development of a business
case with a more detailed focus on anticipated revenue, operational costs and
resource implications.  
7.2 The proposition will also focus on anticipated benefits from levy income and
where this would support an enhanced tourism offer for Renfrewshire, identifying
broad areas or a framework for allocation of funds raised.  
7.3 In this context it is anticipated officers will progress the following workstreams
over the next period:-  
• Establish a working group to support development of a visitor levy proposition. 
This will include public and private sector representatives of the Tourism
Leadership Group, VisitScotland and senior Council officers from appropriate
Services; 
• Evaluate data collection methods and refine forecasting tools to establish a
robust basis for revenue forecasts; 
• Monitor progress and lessons learned from early adopters; 
• Undertake formal engagement and seek views from the industry, public and
wider stakeholders. 
7.4  Outcomes from these workstreams will inform the development of a formal visitor
levy proposition and will be reported to the Board as appropriate.  
________________________________________________________________
Implications of the Report
1. Financial – A visitor levy scheme provides an opportunity for revenue
generation, offset by cost and resource implications.  Both potential income and
costs will be investigated further as part of a detailed proposition. 
2. HR & Organisational Development – None known at present 
3. Community/Council Planning –  
• Reshaping our place, our economy and our future – The visitor levy revenue
generation could be used to invest in infrastructure, events, destination
marketing etc which could help enhance Renfrewshire as a visitor
destination. 
4. Legal – None 
5. Property/Assets – None 
6. Information Technology – None

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7. Equality & Human Rights - There is no EHR impact from this recommendation
to develop a proposal, any EHR impacts will be assessed during the business
case development. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the
recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored,
and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 
8. Health & Safety – None 
9. Procurement –  None
10. Risk – None 
11. Privacy Impact – None 
12. Climate Risk – None 
13. Children’s Rights – None
14. Cosla Policy Position – None 
_______________________________________________________
List of Background Papers 
• Renfrewshire Tourism Plan 2024 - 2027.  Leadership Board, 6 December 2023 
__________________________________________________________________ 
Author: Euan Shearer; Regeneration and Place Manager
Email: euan.shearer@renfrewshire.gov.uk

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Appendix 1