Tourist Taxes to Spread Across UK in Overtourism Fight

Edinburgh will soon charge hotel guests an extra 5% tax, and the idea is catching on fast across the UK, impacting hotels, short-term rentals, and cruise lines.

A cascade of tourist tax proposals is sweeping across the UK after Edinburgh became the first British city to approve a 5% hotel bed tax starting July 2026.

Edinburgh's move, announced last August, has triggered a wave of similar tourist tax proposals across Britain as cash-strapped local governments eye taking a cut of tourism revenue while making it costlier to visit.

Half of Scotland's local authorities are now developing similar levies, with Wales poised to vote on its own tourist tax legislation this summer, and some UK cruise ports are considering levies on passengers, too.

Why now? Scotland last year became the first part of the UK to enable localities to charge visitor levies.

The push stems from a practical constraint: Scotland's devolved government cannot create new national taxes without approval from the UK Treasury, which routinely refuses such requests, a