THE idea of a tourist tax has been mooted many times before – indeed, Edinburgh City Council first considered the idea 20 years ago. But the financial crisis facing the city’s festivals has given added impetus to the idea. Julia Amour, the new director of Festivals Edinburgh, says the city should now seriously consider such a tax if its famous cultural events are not to career over a fiscal cliff.

Under Ms Amour’s plan, the tax would work by adding a mark-up to hotel rooms in the way that it does in other cities. In Barcelona, for example, a small amount is added to the cost of a stay, depending on the size and quality of the hotel; and in Berlin, a five per cent charge is added to the cost of every hotel room. Similar schemes operate in many other cities around the world.

On the face of it, the tax could be a relatively pain-free way to raise funds, and it would seem unlikely that a small supplement on the cost of a room would deter a significant number of visitors to Edinburgh when it has so much to offer. But there are dangers with the idea, mainly that if councils were given the power to impose a tourist tax, it would disappear into general spending and would be used to fill the black holes in their finances. It is hard to see how that would be fair – should one sector which contributes so much to the economy be expected to take the hit for the financial crisis in local government?

Ms Amour’s idea is much better as the money raised would be used to support the cultural events that attract tourists in the first place. In this way, the tax could be sold as a way to protect and pay for the heritage that makes Scotland an attractive place to visit.

The head of Festivals Scotland has made her case well and the idea now deserves consideration by government. The Scottish Government has set its stall against the idea in the past, but the festivals are important to Edinburgh and Scotland as a whole and need to be paid for – it is time to talk about new ways to do that.