Edinburgh Visitor Levy

In January 2025, the City of Edinburgh Council announced it would use its powers as set out in The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act to introduce a levy on paid overnight accommodation in Edinburgh.

From 24 July 2026, a levy of 5% on overnight accommodation will be applied for a maximum of five nights. The levy will be charged before VAT and will not be charged on extras like parking, meals, drinks or transport.

Accommodation providers will be responsible for collecting the levy and paying it to the Council, with the first payments due in October 2026. Accommodation providers will need to apply the levy to any advance bookings made as of 1 October 2025 for stays on or after 24 July 2026. Payments will be made via a self-assessment online platform, which will be available for registration from March 2026.

The Council have created an Edinburgh-specific information sheet for accommodation providers.

Edinburgh Visitor Levy Funding Programmes
In accordance with the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act (2024), funds raised by the levy must be reinvested in local facilities and services substantially used by business and leisure visitors.

The Council have identified 3 investment streams:
1. City Operations and Infrastructure
2. Culture, Heritage and Events
3. Destination and Visitor Management

Over the past twelve months, these agreed streams have been developed by various city stakeholders, including the Edinburgh Visitor Levy Advisory Forum.

On Thursday 12 February 2026, the City of Edinburgh Council agreed the first full set of spending programmes for funding raised by the Edinburgh Visitor Levy.
Read the Council’s press release.

All investment streams will be formally reviewed alongside the overall scheme in 2029.

You can find out more about the Edinburgh Visitor Levy on the council’s website.

ETAG recognises the importance of the introduction of a Visitor Levy on Edinburgh’s Visitor Economy. To help businesses to keep informed, we have created this dedicated section of our website, which aims to act as a repository for published information in relation to all things Visitor Levy for Edinburgh, including all the key pieces of publicly available information in relation to the national and local positions.