PKHT Urges Communities to Have Their Say on Visitor Levy

Perth and Kinross Council is currently consulting on a Draft Scheme for a new Visitor Levy – a charge linked to a visitor’s stay in short-term accommodation, potentially generating significant revenue for local use.

As the independent charity dedicated to the active conservation of Perth & Kinross’s outstanding historic environment, we are in support of the proposed levy in principle.

Properly designed and implemented, a levy offers an important opportunity to reinvest in the assets, places, facilities and services which attract visitors, support the local visitor economy and contribute to the quality of life of communities across Perth and Kinross.

Our support is conditional, and we have advised that the final Visitor Levy Scheme:

1. Commits 35% of net Visitor Levy proceeds to Culture and Heritage.
2. Defines heritage broadly, recognising the historic environment as a fundamental component of visitor infrastructure, rather than limiting funding to commercialised heritage attractions or heritage experiences.
3. Makes funding available to a wide range of appropriate heritage and community organisations, including community organisations and all bodies capable of delivering impactful projects
4. Recognise the contribution of the historic environment to tourism through building condition, townscape, streetscape, public realm, conservation and place quality, as well as through formal heritage attractions and experiences.s
5. Names Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust as a member of the Visitor Levy Forum, representing historic environment expertise for the benefit of everyone.
6. Gives the Forum a meaningful role in setting priorities, considering investment proposals and scrutinising outcomes.
7. Publishes clear funding criteria, allocations and outcomes, including how advice from the Visitor Levy Forum has informed final decisions.
8. Includea a heritage impact and contribution assessment for relevant levy-funded projects and future levy reviews.

What should a Visitor Levy actually achieve for Perth and Kinross?

For Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust, the answer is simple: if visitors contribute to the places they enjoy, some of that money should be invested in making those places better – for visitors, businesses and the people who live here.

PKHT supports the principle of a Visitor Levy, and believes the final scheme needs stronger recognition of and investment in the historic environment as both an economic and community asset, meaningful community involvement and transparency about how the money is spent.

What about businesses?

We understand why tourism and accommodation businesses are concerned about the financial implications of a levy and believe it is important that their voices are heard.

Implemented well, the levy has potential to create visible investment in the destinations on which their businesses depend – attractive town centres, well-maintained buildings and public spaces, heritage trails and interpretation, and places that visitors want to explore and return to.

PKHT has advised the Council to publish clear funding criteria and report openly on how much is raised, where it goes, who receives it and what visitor, community, economic and heritage benefits it delivers.

Heritage is visitor infrastructure

Heritage isn’t just something visitors pay to enter. It is the historic high street where they shop and eat, the traditional building where they stay, the conservation area they walk through, and the streets, landscapes and villages that give Perth and Kinross its distinctive character.

That is why PKHT is asking the Council to allocate approximately 35% of net Visitor Levy income to Culture and Heritage.

This should support much more than commercial attractions – including historic building repair, townscape and public realm, sustainable reuse, traditional building skills, heritage trails, interpretation and community heritage projects.

Making tourism work for communities

We also understand that some communities are concerned about tourism and its impacts.

The answer shouldn’t simply be more visitors. It should be better investment in the places that people already value.

The Visitor Levy could help repair historic buildings, improve town centres, support community heritage projects and strengthen the character and quality of places across Perth and Kinross.

Funding should be open to good projects delivered by community groups, heritage organisations, charities and social enterprises – not just the largest cultural organisations.

PKHT is also asking for formal representation on the Visitor Levy Forum, alongside tourism, community and other specialist voices, so that historic-environment expertise is properly represented in decisions about priorities and investment.

Have your say

We encourage all communities of Perth and Kinross to have their say via the consultation, which closes on the 11^th November 2026.

You can take part by completing the consultation on the Council’s Consultation Hub.