Published on : Thursday, January 10, 2019
Hotel occupancy all over Scotland has dropped 1.4 percent, as per STA, while the UK occupies number 135 position out of 136 countries, for international tourism price-competitiveness.
In an email to its members, the STA said: “Edinburgh is one of the few European cities in decline. Glasgow figures are showing the same trend. There is a misconception of a buoyant industry.”
“We are simply at the bottom of the pile when it comes to competing on price against other global destinations.
“If price and value for money is a deciding factor in a visitor’s choice of destination, there are 134 places in the world that will be more attractive to them than the UK.”
“Where would we sit in relation to price competitiveness if we introduced another tax on the international visitor, and indeed our domestic tourists?”
“We would be at a competitive disadvantage to other locations with a much lower VAT, who do not include any tourist taxes in public prices. Prices displayed by our competitor destinations will always look more attractive at first glance.”
“A tourism tax could negatively impact businesses that rely on the tourism economy by reducing visitor spending right across the industry – in pubs, restaurants, shops, cafes, visitor attractions and entertainment venues.”
Also, STA mentioned to two pieces of research carried on by Nottingham University that found that a price of one percent, compared to global competitors, reduced tourism by one percent and that one percent boost in UK costs would lead to a 0.61 percent decline in tourism spending.
Tags: Edinburgh tourism tax
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