Visitors to the Highlands could be charged £5 a night to stay in hotels, B&Bs and holiday lets under plans for a new tourist tax which could come into force from summer 2028.
Highland councillors are considering a draft Visitor Levy Scheme which would introduce a fixed nightly charge across the entire council area, covering destinations including Inverness, Skye, Lochaber, Caithness and the North Coast 500.
Under the proposals, visitors staying in hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, rooms in private homes, short-term lets and similar accommodation would pay £5 per room or accommodation area per night. A lower charge of £2 a night is proposed for hostels and campsites.
Unlike the percentage-based tourist tax previously considered by the council, the new scheme would use fixed charges regardless of the cost of the accommodation.
The levy would apply across the whole Highland Council area but would operate for only nine months of the year, with December, January and February excluded.
Accommodation businesses would be allowed to retain 5% of the levy they collect to help cover the administrative cost of operating the scheme.
Councillors are being asked at a special meeting on Tuesday 25 August to approve the draft scheme for a 12-week public consultation.
If consultation is approved, residents, tourism businesses and communities will be asked for their views on the proposed charges, exemptions, how the scheme should be run and how the money raised should be spent.
The findings would then return to councillors before a separate decision on whether the levy should go ahead.
Scottish legislation requires a minimum 18-month implementation period after a council formally decides to introduce a visitor levy, meaning the Highland scheme could not begin immediately.
The latest proposals represent a significant change from the council’s previous attempt to introduce a tourist tax.
Highland Council had earlier consulted on charging visitors 5% of the cost of their overnight accommodation, estimating that model could raise around £10 million a year.
That consultation attracted 4,103 responses and significant concern from accommodation providers about the complexity of calculating and administering a percentage charge.
Tourism businesses raised concerns including the administrative burden on small operators, the effect on businesses close to the VAT registration threshold and the risk of putting Highland accommodation at a competitive disadvantage.
The council subsequently pressed the Scottish Government to change the law so councils could choose a fixed nightly charge instead.
The Visitor Levy (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2026 has now given local authorities greater flexibility to use fixed amounts as an alternative to percentage-based levies.
Highland Council says tourism is one of the region’s most important industries but argues that millions of visitors also create additional pressure on roads, toilets, parking, waste services and other infrastructure shared with local communities.
The latest available council figures show visitor numbers increased from 5.16 million in 2012 to around 9.4 million in 2024, while annual visitor spending reached more than £2.1 billion.
The Highland scheme would become one of the most geographically extensive visitor levies in Scotland if it ultimately goes ahead.
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and West Dunbartonshire have already approved visitor levy schemes, while a number of other councils are developing or consulting on their own proposals.