ONE of the architects of the the North Coast 500 has warned Edinburgh's tourist tax plan risks "killing the golden goose".
Robin Worsnop, chief executive and founder of Rabbie's Trail Burners, based in the Scottish capital for 25 years, said the plan had not been properly costed and that visitors already offer a vital spend.
It comes as City of Edinburgh Council collates consultation results for £2 a night tourist tax it says will raise around £11 million a year and the Scottish Government, which has the final say, is also consulting.
Mr Worsnop said: "As much as tourism can bring some challenges we should never forget how beneficial it is to communities, it keeps people in jobs and brings wealth to areas.
"Managing some of these impacts is a thing we have to work through but we have to do it logically and we have to use data to do it.
"When it comes to things like tourism levies my concern is that you kill the golden goose.
"You divert the wealth away from the sector that is generating wealth, generating jobs to the public purse and you displace the spend of the visitor elsewhere and for me the issue is that nobody has done a proper economic impact study around this."
He added: "One should never forget that the visitors are paying while they are on holiday.
"For me it is about getting this balance right so that we don’t kill the golden goose."
UK Hospitality warned the Transient Visitor Levy could cost Scotland £175m in lost business including potentially £45m in Edinburgh.
The trade body representing the hospitality industry claims its data shows that despite a positive monthly change in revenue per available room, UK hotels are suffering the effects of a difficult operating environment compared to their EU counterparts.
A study by the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce which found nearly 70 per cent of firms in favour of tourist tax was callenged by the main lobby group for the Scottish tourism industry.
The Scottish Tourism Alliance noted a limited number of respondents from the hospitality industry had voted in favour of a TVL.
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