Everything You Need to Know About Tourist Taxes in the UK

Edinburgh, Scotland has become the first city in the UK to charge all visitors a tourist tax. Starting with bookings made from October 2025, anyone staying overnight in the Scottish capital will pay an extra five per cent on top of their hotel or rental bill. The fee is part of a bigger plan to help cities manage the costs that come with having lots of tourists. Other UK cities are expected to follow Edinburgh's lead in the coming years.

You may have already seen a tourist tax if you have visited cities like Paris, Barcelona, or Amsterdam. In those places, hotels add a small fee to your bill each night. That money is usually collected by the hotel and then handed over to the local government. Cities use it to pay for things like parks, public transport, and other services that visitors use.

In the UK, this kind of charge is often called a 'visitor levy.' Some people use the term 'tourist tax' instead, but both mean the same thing. The levy is not just for tourists — it also applies to people travelling for work. However, some people do not have to pay it, including children, people travelling for medical reasons, and people escaping domestic violence.

Edinburgh's levy adds five per cent to the cost of a night's stay. It applies to hotels, hostels, campsites, holiday lets, and even houseboats. The fee is capped at five nights in a row, so longer stays are not charged beyond that point. The City of Edinburgh Council says the levy could raise up to £50 million every year.

Edinburgh's Council Leader Jane Meagher said the city's popularity 'comes at a cost.' She explained that the growing number of tourists puts pressure on roads, public spaces, and other services. She said the extra money will help improve those services and help the city manage big events like festivals. Not everyone agrees with her, though.

Not everyone is happy about the new charge. Scottish Ballet said it cancelled five shows in Edinburgh this winter because the tourist tax has pushed up accommodation prices. Small business owners also have concerns. Angus Neilsen, who rents out several self-catering units in Edinburgh, said it is unfair that only accommodation providers must collect the tax while restaurants and tour companies that also benefit from tourism do not.

Other Scottish cities will also introduce levies soon. Glasgow will add a five per cent charge from January 2027, and Aberdeen will charge seven per cent from April 2027. In Wales, a new law passed in July 2025 lets councils charge visitors a fee too. The earliest any Welsh council could start is April 2027.

In Wales, the charge is a fixed amount rather than a percentage. Campsites, hostels, and dorms will charge 75 pence per person per night, while all other accommodation will charge £1.30 per person per night. Children under 18 at campsites, hostels, or dorms do not have to pay, and neither do people in emergency housing. This makes Wales's system slightly different from Scotland's.

England is moving more slowly on this issue. A new bill called the Overnight Visitor Levy Bill was included in the King's Speech in May 2026. It would give local leaders the power to introduce their own overnight charges. No further steps have been taken yet, so it has not become law.

Some English cities did not wait for a national law. Manchester and Liverpool used a system called an Accommodation Business Improvement District, or ABID, to start charging visitors early. An ABID is a group of hotels that agree to collect a fee and put the money into a shared fund. In Liverpool, guests pay £2 per night, while in Manchester the charge is £1 per room per night.

Liverpool's ABID says the fee will raise £9.2 million over two years, most of which will go towards improving the visitor experience. Bill Addy, CEO of Liverpool BID Company, said Liverpool had its best July ever for hotel bookings after the fee started. He argued that visitors are used to small city charges and are not put off by them. He also said that a local, private model works better than a nationwide government law.

Northern Ireland has no plans to introduce a visitor levy at this time. A government spokesperson confirmed that no changes are being considered there. For now, the tourist tax is a feature of Scotland, Wales, and parts of England only. As more cities look for new ways to fund local services, visitor levies are likely to grow across the UK.