The Stirling Visitor Levy Explained

A new visitor levy is on the way for Stirling, and if you run accommodation or work in tourism, the details are worth getting straight now. We’re joined by Jillian Schofield, Service Manager for Culture, Events and Tourism at Stirling Council, to explain what the Stirling Visitor Levy is, why it’s being introduced, and how it will work in practice for guests and providers.

We talk through the headline numbers in plain English: a 3% levy added on top of the accommodation rate only (not food or other extras), collected by accommodation providers and remitted through a collection platform. Jillian also sets Stirling’s plan in the wider visitor levy Scotland picture, with Edinburgh going first, Glasgow following, and other councils preparing their own schemes. Most importantly, we clarify the timeline: Stirling launches on 14 June 2027, applying to bookings made after 1 January 2027 for stays on or after that June date.

From there, we dig into what the levy is meant to fund. The proposed investment priorities include infrastructure (the biggest share), destination marketing and product development, events and culture, a Community Tourism Fund, and practical business support. We also discuss why representation matters, and how a Visitor Levy Advisory Forum is being formed to reflect Stirling city and the wider rural area, from hospitality and accommodation to heritage, attractions, and events.

If you want more updates, keep an eye on Stirling Council’s visitor levy information online, and send questions to visitorlevy@stirling.gov.uk. Subscribe, share, and leave a review, then tell us what should be the top priority for visitor levy spending in Stirling?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hello, welcome back to the Sterling Business Podcast from Studio King Street in the heart of Sterling. Today I have Jillian Schofield from Sterling Council, the service manager for culture, events and tourism, here to talk about the Sterling Visitor Levy. Hi Gillian, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I'm good, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Yeah, welcome to Studio King Street.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Thanks for asking me along.

Jillian’s Role Across Culture And Tourism

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Yeah, you're absolutely welcome. So we've been hearing about the Sterling Visitor Levy for a while now, and it looks like it's uh it's starting to potentially take and start to take effect as we go into uh so into 2027. So um could you please ex before we get into that specifically, could you just explain your role a little bit more in the council? Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

So um as you said, so I'm the service manager for culture, events and tourism within Sterling Council. So I sit within the economic development, planning and climate change department, and my remit is is all things culture, events and tourism. So I've got a fairly large team and we manage the delivery of the cultural strategy. Um we have an extensive events program year-round. We also run a few venues, which is the toll booth and the Albert Halls, and also the National Mollis Monument. Um, Arima also covers tourism as well, so we're here to look at the destination um marketing element of things and work with tourism providers. So I'm in the middle of um looking at a refresh of our tourism and events um plan at the moment. So it's uh a busy, busy, busy job.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

So how big is your team? Is it big like?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Um if you if you include sort of of supply staff, we're probably talking about 90, including supply staff across the venues, yeah. But the core team in terms of the the direct reports I have is is quite small. Um but that's all we're talking about staff um who are working the venues makes it seem a little bit larger than it actually is.

Where Visitor Levies Start In Scotland

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Right, okay. So I guess after a considerable time of public consultation, uh a vote has been approved to move ahead with the uh the visitor levy. Um where else is it currently being implemented across Scotland? Surely Stirling isn't the first location.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

No, no, Stirling is not the first. So Edinburgh is the first local authority to um implement the levy and they'll be doing so in July of this year. So they're almost a year ahead of us. Okay. Um following them will be Glasgow, who will be implementing their levy in January of next year. And then other local authorities that have already approved the scheme is Aberdeen and West and Bartonshire, and they'll be following suit around spring and summer twenty seven, just as Stirling is. Most importantly, our scheme will be implemented and be launched on the 14th of June 27, and that will apply to all bookings made after the 1st of January 27.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Okay, so it sounds like the prioritisation for investments from the visitor levy proceeds elsewhere in Scotland are pretty varied in terms of kind of what Edinburgh are going to be doing versus what Glasgow will be doing, West Dumbartonshire, etc. What will be the core focus for Stirling uh with regards to investment from the levy?

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yeah, absolutely. So we were um really um keen to make sure that the whatever levy we uh came up with for Stirling was reflective of the the needs and wants of Stirling specifically. So the work that we did um in terms of the consultation and engagement work is being reflected in the the outcomes and the and the priority um investment objectives. Those investment objectives are linked to the tourism and events plan that we referenced. So what we have, and I'll just refer to my notes so I don't get the percentages uh wrong, is we have a split of the um investment priorities across infrastructure. Um about 45% of the investment will go there. Destination marketing and product development, about 15% of the spend will be attributed to that. Events and culture, 15% there. And um we'll also be launching something called a community tourism fund, and that'll be 12.5% of the investment going in that area. And finally, a lot of the conversations we had with businesses was there was a need for business support. So 12.5% of the investment will go in that area.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Okay, so from an infrastructure perspective, obviously where since that's where the uh the majority of the investment's going to go, what type of can you give us a few examples of the types of things that will look like?

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Absolutely, I mean absolutely nothing has been confirmed as yet because um the the guidance and the the advice on where that investment will go will come through the visitor levy advisory forum, which has just been sort of pulled together at the moment. But in terms of infrastructure, we could be looking at anything like um public transport. One of the key areas that came up quite a lot during the consultation there was there was very um difficult links between the Stirling City and out to the rural area, so that's an area that could be improved, and that would be an improvement for visitors, also for the community, and also staff trying to get out to the places of work. So that would be one fairly substantial area around infrastructure.

Implementation Timeline And Provider Support

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Okay, good. So when and how is the uh the visitor levy going to be uh implemented? So you talked a little bit about some debts earlier. Could you just Yeah, absolutely?

SPEAKER_00 5:13

So the um the the Stirling Council approved visit levy in December, and from that point we have an 18-month period of implementation. 27-25. Yeah, just last year. So we have an 18-month period of implementation. So we're four months into that, and where we are in terms of implementation is we are working with our colleagues across the the council to pull together the data of all the accommodation providers in the area, and we've also completed some uh a guidance for accommodation providers which you can find on Stirling Council's website, and that gives the accommodation providers an indication of what their role will be in terms of the collection of the levy. Um we'll also be working with partners to provide um one-to-one support for accommodation providers to talk them through the collection platform, any queries they may have, how they how we can communicate with our customers, etc. So there's there is a lot of work to do, but we do have time to do that. Um so that's where we are with that element of things. Like I said, we are also in the process of recruiting our visitor levy advisory forum. So we've put a call out just um I think last week looking for for people to put their name forward if they'd be interested in joining that forum. And it would be that independent forum that will be the advisory group um advising on the investment.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

And will that typically be uh people from accommodation businesses or could it be a varied across the case? It will be varied as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

So the the key thing is to make sure that the forum reflects the strengths of the Stirling area. So obviously there's Stirling City and then the the huge rural area within the Stirling Local Authority region. And it's really key that we reflect the widespread, you know, the the the history, the heritage, the culture, events, the accommodation, the visitor attractions, hospitality. So we're looking for a a wide range of individuals to come and sit in that forum so we have a good voice that represents the entire area and the entire sector.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

So typically, how will it work then? So um I'm a tourist coming to Stirling, or I'm a visitor coming to Stirling. It doesn't necessarily need to be a tourist, right? So what what will happen when I arrive? You know, I'll I'll need to effectively pay some sort of levy. So how does it work in the middle of the year?

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah, absolutely. So um the levy that we've paid that's been approved for Stirling is a three per cent levy, and that levy is applied over and above the accommodation rate. So whatever your accommodation rate is, and it's accommodation only, not food, not not any other element of your stay, three percent will be added on top of that level.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

So if that's£100 a night, that would be£103 that they guess you pay. Yeah, okay. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

And um the the visitor will just uh will pay for that rate, and that will be the income that the accommodation provider will collect, and the collection platform will then support how that levy is uh deducted and remitted to to Stirling Council.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Okay. And um so so that's typically how how it will work, pretty straightforward. I guess this is pretty common across Europe and uh other countries I've I've seen this.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

I think it's very common across Europe. Um there's very there's various different ways of collecting the levy across Europe. There's some as a per person per night, some as a a flat rate, some as percentage rate. Um and the scheme that we developed um was really based on the legislation which was a percentage rate at that time. So the local authorities were all allowed to set whatever percentage rate they thought was suitable, which is why we went in with three per cent after our extensive.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

So was that be three per cent on the total value of the stay as opposed to a nightly rate, I guess which should be. It will be the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

On on over and above the accommodation, whatever um cost that is, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Okay, so if it's a three night and just say it was£300,£100 a night, it would be that times three. Okay, okay. Um so you talked a little bit about uh some of the um the implementation dates. So you you said for bookings that are taken from the first of January 2027 uh for the for the year of 2027, uh it would it would take effect from that point, but it would it would be equ would that be for bookings from June 27, did you say?

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yes. So if you place a booking on the first of January 27 for a booking after the 14th of June, the levy would be applied. If you place a booking um from the first of January until the thirteenth of June, the levy wouldn't be applied.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

So it comes into effect on the 14th of June.

Getting Updates And Joining The Forum

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Okay, okay, that's fine. Um so as the you know the the the the the levy uh the implementation of the levy gets kind of gets you know kind of rolled out if you like, will there be uh additional information or detail um that can be kind of shared as as time goes by?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Yes, so like I say, um we've not gone out to contact all our accommodation providers at the moment because we're in the process of collecting data. So you can imagine there's a I think something like 300 accommodation providers throughout the area that that we know of, so we need to collect that data.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

But if anyone wants to have a lot of people, we're just talking hotels here, we're talking about clamping sites and provider.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

But if anyone does want to have a look, um I would go suggest um going to Stirling Council, like it's Stirling Council for visitor levy, and that has all the details in terms of the accommodation guidance that's there at the moment. So it'll give them an idea of what's what's coming.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Okay, so it's it's good to know that um it's not just the city centre that's going to be represented with regards to how the how the levy's spent. It's gonna go right across the uh the Stirlingshire region here.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Yes, yes, certainly our scheme um we developed it across Stirling. So we have a large number of accommodation providers in the rural area as well as in the in the city centre itself. So um to remain extra across the area we we made sure it was Stirling Council-wide.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Okay, so would you be happy to join us on a future podcast in I don't know, three, six months from now just to kind of keep us in the world. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

I'd be delighted to, and at which point hopefully I'll be able to share details of the advisory forum. And like I say, please, if you know of anyone who's interested, um all the details are online. I think we've got a date of the 12th of April to submit a note of interest um to that particular forum.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

And how many people are you looking to uh to be part of?

SPEAKER_00 11:22

We don't have the legislation, it doesn't state a number, but we're probably looking at maybe about twelve, fourteen at the moment.

Contact Details And Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Okay. So, Jillian, how do people find out a little bit more about what's going on with regards to the visitor levy? Yep. Uh is there anywhere to contact?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Yeah, absolutely. All information really that that we're aware of at the moment that we're working on is online. However, if there's any specific questions, I would suggest dropping an email to visitorlevy at sterling.gov.uk and uh the visit levy team will get will get back to the individuals.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

So we look forward to uh hearing from you again as uh things unfold. Uh but thank you for coming in to talk to us uh and give us some initial insight on on the visitor levy, Julian. And uh yeah, let's keep talking. And I think you know the listeners will be really keen to see uh see some of the detail as it starts to become more available in the coming days.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Okay, thank you very much, Julian. Thank you, thanks.