A BLISTERING war of words has broken out between Edinburgh City Council and opponents of the £2 per room, per night tourist tax that the capital’s local authority wants to introduce.

Industry umbrella body the Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) has cast doubt on the local authority’s claims to have consulted “industry stakeholders” over the so-called transient visitor levy (TVL). The council is due to begin a public consultation on the issue.

The STA said it was “disappointed that Edinburgh City Council has proceeded to launch a consultation on its plans to charge a tourist tax of £2 per room, per night, having had no formal or meaningful engagement with Scotland’s tourism industry to date.”

Edinburgh Council sources said the STA had been represented at a number of informal round-table discussions which have resulted in the proposed consultation exercise. If it gets a positive result, the council would ask the Scottish Parliament to pass the necessary laws for the TVL.

Council leader Adam McVey said: “Our work over the summer has focused on key stakeholders, particularly those in the hospitality trade, and we are continuing to engage with them on the details of what an Edinburgh scheme could reasonably look like and options for implementing it.”

The STA said: “The Scottish Government has been consistent in its position that it has no plans for a tax on tourists and that the interests of the hospitality and tourism industry must be fully taken into account through consultation.

“The STA has requested that a formal stakeholder consultation takes place at national level, initiated by the Scottish Government. We reiterated our request at a recent meeting with Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, and again by letter to the Cabinet Secretary this week.

“The time has come for an objective, well-informed national, rather than local debate following the conduct of independent research.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are not willing to consider requests to explore a possible tourist tax unless the tourism and hospitality industry are involved from the outset and their long-term interests are fully recognised.

“We continue to deliver a fair deal to councils across Scotland, with revenue and capital funding increasing in real terms over the next financial year.”

The spokesman added:”In partnership with Cosla, our Local Governance Review is now engaging widely on strengthening local decision-making and how public services work together to drive growth – and where we would welcome further discussion about revenue raising powers.”