Are children exempt from the visitor levy?

In Wales, people under 18 do not pay the 75p per person per night rate that applies to campsite pitches and shared rooms, so children camping pay nothing. In Scotland there is no general exemption for children, because the levy is a percentage of the accommodation charge rather than a per person charge.

Are seasonal pitches exempt from the visitor levy?

Seasonal pitches and holiday home owners paying an annual site fee sit outside the Scottish levy, because it attaches to a nightly accommodation charge and an annual fee is not charged per night. Touring, tent and campervan pitches sold by the night are chargeable in the normal way.

Do people on disability benefits pay the visitor levy?

Under the Edinburgh scheme, guests receiving a qualifying disability benefit are exempt, including Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Disability Assistance and Pension Age Disability Payment. Guests with no usual place of residence are also exempt. Other Scottish councils set their own exemptions within the Act.

Is there a maximum stay length for the visitor levy?

In Wales the levy applies to stays of 31 nights or less, so longer stays fall outside it. In Scotland each council can cap the number of chargeable nights: Edinburgh caps the levy at five consecutive nights and Stirling at seven, while Glasgow and Aberdeen have no cap.

Visitor Levy Exemptions for Campsites

The visitor levy exemptions are where most of the arguments happen. A guest arrives certain they do not have to pay, a warden is not sure, and the site ends up either charging someone who should not have been charged or waiving a levy it still has to hand over to the council. Both are your problem, because the liability sits with the accommodation provider rather than the guest.

So it is worth knowing the rules properly. They differ between Scotland and Wales, and in Scotland they differ between councils, which is exactly why so many people have the wrong idea.

The big one: children

This is the most common misunderstanding in the whole subject, because the answer depends on which country you are in.

Wales: yes, under 18s are exempt on campsite pitches. The Welsh levy is 75p per person per night on campsite pitches and shared rooms such as hostel dormitories, and people under 18 do not pay it. So two adults and two children on a touring pitch for three nights pay 2 × 75p × 3, which is £4.50 for the stay, not £9.

Scotland: no, there is no general children's exemption. The Scottish levy is a percentage of the accommodation charge, not a per person charge, so the age of the people on the pitch is irrelevant. A solo camper and a family of five on identically priced pitches pay identical levies.

Expect Welsh guests visiting Scotland, and vice versa, to arrive with the wrong expectation. A line in your confirmation email saves the conversation.

Scotland: who does not pay

The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024 sets the framework and each council sets its own scheme within it, so always read your own council's document. Under the Edinburgh scheme, which is the template most others are following, the levy is not charged where the guest:

has no usual place of residence, which is intended to cover people who are homeless, refugees and asylum seekers
receives a qualifying disability benefit, including Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Disability Assistance and Pension Age Disability Payment

Charities can also apply to the council for a discretionary exemption in respect of a site. There is no exemption for business travellers, no exemption for club members, and no exemption for locals staying in their own area.

What sits outside the levy rather than being exempt from it

This distinction matters for your records, because these stays never enter the calculation at all rather than being deducted from it.

Seasonal pitches. A pitch let for a season on an annual fee has no nightly accommodation charge for a percentage to attach to, so the levy does not apply.
Holiday home owners paying an annual site fee, for the same reason.
Anything that is not paid overnight accommodation. Day visitors, a field let for an event without overnight stays, storage.
Nights beyond a cap. Edinburgh stops charging after five consecutive nights of a stay, Stirling after seven. Glasgow and Aberdeen have set no cap, so every night counts.

If you run a mixed site with seasonal and touring pitches, that first bullet is now a compliance matter. Set them up as separate pitch types in your pitch setup so the two never blur together in a return.

Wales: who does not pay

The Welsh scheme is national, so the rules are the same wherever in Wales you are. Under the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2025:

Under 18s do not pay the 75p rate that applies to campsite pitches and shared rooms.
Stays of more than 31 nights are outside the levy entirely.
The levy only applies where a council has chosen to introduce it, at the earliest from April 2027.

Note the shape of the under 18 exemption. It attaches to the lower rate accommodation, so a child camping on a pitch pays nothing. Read the current Welsh Revenue Authority guidance for your own setup, especially if you let pods or cabins as units of accommodation, because those sit on the £1.30 rate rather than the campsite rate.

Proving an exemption

An exemption you cannot evidence is, from the council's point of view, a levy you failed to collect. Three habits keep you safe.

Record the reason, not just the zero. "Exempt" on its own is not a record. "Exempt, qualifying disability benefit" is. Keep it against the booking so it survives the season.

Ask once, politely, and only for what the scheme requires. You are not running a benefits office. Check what evidence your scheme actually expects, ask for that and nothing more, and do not keep copies of documents you have no reason to hold. Remember that GDPR still applies, and benefit status is sensitive personal data, so record the fact of the exemption rather than the medical detail behind it.

Decide your policy in advance. Write down what you will do when someone claims an exemption they cannot evidence at the gate. Charging it and refunding later, once evidence is provided, is usually cleaner than waiving it and hoping.

The edge cases people ask about

A guest who books five nights then stays seven. In Edinburgh the cap is five consecutive nights of the stay, so the extra nights are not chargeable. Record the change against the booking.
Two separate bookings a week apart. Two stays, two caps. Not one long stay.
A cancelled booking. Refund the levy with the stay, even where your own terms are non refundable. The levy is not yours to keep.
A no show that you charge for. Check your scheme. If you keep an accommodation charge, the levy question follows the money, so ask your council rather than assuming.
Rallies and club meets. Chargeable in the normal way if you are taking money for overnight stays. Membership of a club is not an exemption.
Staff and family staying free. No accommodation charge means no levy, but keep the booking on the diary marked as non chargeable so your occupancy and your return still reconcile.

Keep the evidence where you can find it

Every one of these situations is easy on the day and hard nine months later. The council does not ask what happened while the guest is standing in front of you, it asks in the middle of winter when you are trying to remember whether pitch 7 in August was a seasonal or a touring booking.

The answer is to record the reason at the moment it happens, against the booking, in something you can search. That is all. Sites that do this find levy returns dull. Sites that do not find them stressful, and occasionally expensive.

If your exemptions currently live as pencil notes in the margin of a paper diary, try CampSuite free. Mark a stay exempt and the reason is stored against the booking, under 18s are left out of per person rates automatically, seasonal pitches stay outside the calculation, and the levy report shows your exempt stays alongside the chargeable ones for any date range. Free for up to 100 pitches, about 15 minutes to set up.

For the wider picture, read our Scottish visitor levy guide and Wales visitor levy guide for campsites.

This article is general information for campsite owners, not tax or legal advice. Exemptions are set by each council in Scotland and by the Act and regulations in Wales, so check your own scheme document. Last updated 27 July 2026.

Who Is Exempt From the Visitor Levy? A Campsite Owner's Guide