The UK Visitor Levy: What It Means for Your Campsite

If you run a campsite in Scotland, a visitor levy landed on your booking sheet this week. If you run one in Wales, it is coming within the next couple of years. And if you run one in England or Northern Ireland, you have almost certainly heard the phrase "tourist tax" in the news and wondered whether it is heading your way too. Whatever stage your part of the UK is at, this is one of those pieces of legislation that is easy to ignore right up until it lands on your desk with a deadline attached. Here is what the visitor levy actually is, where it stands right now, and what you need to do about it as a campsite owner.

What Is a Visitor Levy?

A visitor levy, sometimes called a tourist tax, is a small charge added to the cost of an overnight stay. It is collected by the accommodation provider, usually as either a flat rate per person per night or a percentage of the booking value, and then paid over to the local council on a regular basis. It sits alongside your normal pricing rather than replacing it, and it is separate from VAT, which is a national tax collected by HMRC rather than local authorities.

The idea is that visitors who stay overnight in an area contribute a small amount toward local services they use, such as footpath maintenance, public toilets, waste collection and tourism infrastructure. Dozens of countries already do this, from France's taxe de sejour to city charges in Spain and Italy. The UK has been slower to adopt it, but that is now changing fast.

Scotland: The Levy Is Already Live

Scotland moved first. The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act gives local authorities the power to introduce a levy on overnight visitor accommodation in their area, provided they consult properly and give at least 18 months' notice before it takes effect. Edinburgh was the first council to confirm its scheme, and its levy came into force this week at a rate of 5% of the accommodation cost, capped at five nights per stay.

Other Scottish councils, including Highland, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Argyll and Bute, are at various stages of consultation and are expected to introduce their own schemes over the next couple of years, each setting its own rate within the rules of the Act. The important detail for campsite owners is that the legislation covers overnight visitor accommodation broadly, which in most areas includes touring caravan sites, camping fields and glamping pitches, not just hotels. If you operate a site in a council area that has confirmed or is consulting on a levy, do not assume it only applies to hotels and guesthouses. Check the specific scheme documents for your council, because exemptions and definitions vary from one authority to the next.

Wales: A National Scheme Is Coming

Wales has taken a different route. The Senedd has passed legislation covering the whole of Wales rather than leaving it to individual councils, and it comes in two stages. First, a mandatory national registration scheme for all visitor accommodation, campsites and CLs included, so that every provider is on record before any charge is introduced. Then, from around 2027, a visitor levy itself.

The proposed rates are lower for campsites than for hotels, reflecting the lower average nightly spend, with figures discussed of around 75p per person per night for camping and hostel style accommodation against a higher rate for hotels and self catering. These figures are still subject to secondary legislation, so treat them as indicative rather than final. What is fairly certain is that the levy will be charged per person rather than per pitch, which matters for family bookings, and that registration will need to happen well before any charge starts. If you run a site in Wales, keep an eye on Welsh Government and Senedd updates over the coming months so you are not caught out by the registration deadline.

England and Northern Ireland: Watching From the Sidelines, for Now

There is currently no national visitor levy in England or Northern Ireland, and no UK government legislation giving local councils the power to introduce one in the way Scotland's Act does. A handful of English cities, including Manchester and Liverpool, have introduced a City Visitor Charge, but that is a different mechanism entirely. It works through a Business Improvement District and is a charge agreed between larger hotels, typically applied per room per night, rather than a statutory tax that reaches small accommodation providers or campsites.

That said, the direction of travel is fairly clear. Once Scotland and Wales have working schemes, pressure tends to build for England to follow, and several English mayors and councils have already called for the power to introduce something similar. Nothing is imminent, but it would be sensible for site owners in England and Northern Ireland to treat this as a case of when, not if, and to keep half an eye on the news rather than being caught off guard in a year or two.

How a Visitor Levy Actually Works Day to Day

If a levy does apply to your site, the mechanics are broadly similar wherever it is introduced:

• Registration. You typically need to register your site with the local authority or a national register before you can legally take bookings, even before any charge starts.
• Collection. You add the levy to the guest's bill at the time of booking or check in, calculated either as a flat amount per person per night or a percentage of the accommodation price.
• Exemptions. Most schemes exempt certain groups, commonly children under a set age, and some exempt stays beyond a maximum number of nights or certain types of essential worker accommodation. The detail varies by area, so check the exact rules rather than assuming.
• Remittance. You pay the money collected over to the local authority on a set schedule, usually quarterly, along with a return showing how many chargeable nights you had.
• Record keeping. You need to be able to show which bookings the levy applied to and which were exempt, so accurate records matter more than ever.

None of this is complicated in isolation, but it is one more thing layered on top of running your pitches, managing your bookings and keeping your accounts straight. Sites that already have clean digital records will find this far easier than sites still working from a paper diary.

Getting Your Site Ready

Whether your area already has a levy or is still a couple of years away, there are a few sensible things to do now rather than later:

• Check your local authority's plans. Search for your council name and "visitor levy" and read the actual consultation or scheme documents, not just news headlines. Definitions of who is covered can be narrower or wider than you expect.
• Update your pricing and terms. Decide whether you will show the levy as a separate line item or build it into your headline price, and update your invoices and receipts so guests can see exactly what they have paid for.
• Talk to guests early. Nobody likes a surprise charge on arrival. Mentioning the levy on your booking page and in your confirmation email avoids awkward conversations at check in.
• Keep good records from day one. Even before a levy applies to your area, getting into the habit of accurate, digital booking records means you will be ready when it does.
• Budget for the admin, not just the charge. The levy itself is passed on to the guest, but registering, collecting and reporting takes time. Factor that into your season planning.

If you run a CL site or a CS site, the temptation is to assume schemes like this are aimed at big hotels and will not touch a five pitch field. Do not assume that. Both the Scottish and Welsh legislation are written to cover overnight visitor accommodation broadly, and small sites have been caught by definitions before, most notably with business rates and licensing. It is far easier to check now than to find out after the fact that you missed a registration deadline.

The Bottom Line

A UK wide visitor levy has gone from a talking point to a live charge in Edinburgh this week, with Wales not far behind and England likely to follow eventually. For campsite owners, the practical impact is less about the money itself, since it is paid by the guest, and more about the admin: registering correctly, collecting the right amount, keeping clean records and explaining it to guests without friction.

The sites that handle this well will be the ones already running on proper digital systems rather than a paper diary and a shoebox of receipts. If that sounds like a project for another day, try CampSuite free and get your bookings, invoicing and guest communication sorted before any new charge lands on your desk. It takes about fifteen minutes to set up, and CL and CS sites pay nothing.