Your Voice: Visitor Levy

We want to give communities across the city a direct say in how we invest part of the income from the Edinburgh Visitor Levy. What kind of projects do you want to see funded in your local community? You can share your ideas through our online portal.

Your Voice: Visitor Levy is a Participatory Budgeting (PB) programme which gives communities or groups of residents the chance to suggest ideas and decide how public money is spent, normally by voting. In accordance with the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act (2024), funds raised by the levy must be reinvested in local facilities and services substantially used by business and leisure visitors. However, participatory budgeting may also benefit residents and those who work and study in Edinburgh.

Each of the Council’s 17 electoral wards are set to benefit from a share of £1.7m over three years, with residents directly deciding how to spend the funds in their local ward via an online voting portal. 

This will give local people the opportunity to help shape ideas and opportunities that matter the most to them, creating projects that reflect their community’s unique needs and aspirations, and share the benefits of Edinburgh’s tourism economy to the whole of the city. The average fund per ward is £100,000 over three years, although this varies between £82,000 and £121,000, with areas of greater economic need getting a slightly larger share.