CAMPERVAN users could be subjected to a tax upon entry to the Highlands in future if council bosses manage to obtain extra visitor levy powers, the Sunday National can reveal.
Highland Council bosses are currently in talks with the Scottish Government about enhancing their ability to apply a tourism tax to visitors staying in a vehicle – whether they are parked at a campsite or not.
The council is launching a consultation on Monday on a £5 per room, per night visitor levy for stays in hotels, B&Bs and short-term lets.
This also includes plans to apply a £2 charge to hostels and campsites – including motorhomes pitched at these – but the council does not currently have the power to tax those vehicles which park away from designated sites under current legislation. The council has confirmed it is seeking to secure such levers.
Since the onset of the Covid pandemic, Highland residents have found their daily lives impacted by an influx of tourists arriving in campervans with many irresponsible owners littering, lighting fires and defecating in beauty spots.
Those living on the North Coast 500 (NC500) route – which has become one of the top road trips in the world – have borne the brunt of this overtourism over the past few years, along with those living in places like Glencoe.
Robin Pettigrew, who lives in Lochcarron on the NC500, said any tourist tax should be targeting those who pitch up vehicles wherever they like as well as those at designated sites.
He told the Sunday National: “I wouldn’t demonise motorhomes and campervans, but what we have a problem with is people who are coming up in whatever vehicle.
“I’m aware there are talks going on to bring them into some kind of levy. It should be a vehicle levy, not a campervan levy.
“I know there is a considerable body of feeling up here that they should be taxed or levied. My feeling is it should have been a vehicle levy and not effectively a bedroom tax.”
Pettigrew is advocating for automatic number plate recognition to be used at key entry points to the Highlands on the likes of the A9 and A96 as a way of applying a tax.
“You wouldn’t have to charge loads of money with the sheer amount of vehicles coming up,” he said.
“I totally understand how desperate the council are for funds. I fully support the idea [of a tourist tax], and I hope they get their act together [on the vehicle aspect] because our infrastructure, our schools, our communities need the help.”
The former chartered member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health also launched a petition earlier this year calling for campervans to be banned outside of designated zones.
While the Holyrood petitions committee had "no alternative" but to reject it initially due to a lack of parliamentary time remaining before the election, Pettigrew resubmitted the petition in July after being urged to bring it back in front of the new cohort of MSPs.
Councillors were told last month that if the fixed-rate visitor levy went ahead, it could raise about £9.5 million a year to help pay for infrastructure such as roads.
Under the plans, the charges would apply across the whole Highland Council area for nine months of the year, excluding December, January and February. Accommodation providers would retain 5% of the levy collected to help cover administration costs.
The fixed-rate scheme is being proposed after strong opposition had been expressed to a percentage-based levy during earlier consultations.
Donald Macdonald, the founder of Campaign for Real Aires (CAMpRA), said he would have no problem, as a motorhome owner, paying a tourist tax provided there are more safe places for parking.
Macdonald was inspired to launch CAMpRA following his trips to France and Spain. There are thousands of aires in France which are dedicated, often low-cost or free, service areas for self-contained motorhomes.
“We’ve been working since 2020 for the creation of safe, authorised overnight parking spaces for self-contained motorhomes,” he said.
“What’s ideal to make people want to visit somewhere is that there’s somewhere allocated that you can park up and you’re not going to have the local residents chapping on your door at 2am.
“I think there’s a feeling across the Highlands from some people that motorhome owners look at the map and think ‘where can we go to annoy people the most?’, when they’re the same as anyone that goes on holiday – you want to go somewhere and enjoy the scenery, eat out, do a bit of shopping. You don’t want to be getting into a confrontation with residents.”
Macdonald said he found in Northern Ireland where there are more designated spots for motorhomes to park that residents had a more welcoming attitude towards tourists.
“It was really welcoming. There was recognised places where people could park up, and there were facilities for them. If that happens, I would expect someone in a motorhome to be making as much of a contribution to the ongoing costs of tourism as someone who is in a sports car staying at a BnB," he said.
“We’re happy to pay that, what we need is for places to be created.”
The consultation launched on Monday is set to last 12 weeks, with the council due to discuss findings in December.
Highland MSP Ariane Burgess said she would be supportive of a “point of entry” tax in the region.
“Part of the problem people talk about is that campervans park up anywhere and over the years there’s been problems where there’s no way to really make sure people are leaving the place well,” she said.
“The other challenge I’ve heard from people is that most people arrive with their campervans with their food and fridge fully stocked and so don’t contribute to the local economy by going and eating in a restaurant.
“If you go to Scandinavia, people recognise that paying a tax is a way of contributing, and so I would say this is a way for people to contribute to the beautiful landscape they love to come and experience.”
A Highland Council spokesperson said: “The council is engaging with The Scottish Government on the expansion of the current powers to include other visitor groups."
