Sorry, still off topic initially but I had to respond, and it is about tourists!
Gareth Harper wrote:I wonder what impact windfarms are having on tourism?
In a word - none.
I assume you've got this from reports funded by those with a vested interest in windfarms. Admittedly, it is difficult to wade past these and find another view. But here's just one from Mountaineering Scotland which, as one point, talks about displacement within Scotland i.e. folk deciding not to visit location A because of windfarms, going to location B instead. But location A loses out on that visitor's spend, which could make a substantial impact to income in that location. I am one of the visitors who will do just this, so the impact is already not 'none'.
https://www.mountaineering.scot/assets/contentfiles/media-upload/Wind_farms_and_tourism_in_Scotland_-_a_review,_Nov_2017_20171106.pdfFurther today Scotland’s biggest generator and provider of electricity in Scotland Scottish Power announced that their generation is now 100% renewable. That’s quite an achievement.
This has been answered:
Sack the Juggler wrote:It is quite an achievement, but its also a little disingenuous as it cannot supply all its customers from its current infrastructure, so it will be buying in brown energy to meet the demand. So Scottish Power customers will still be buying energy from coal and gas). Having said that. I'm not sure what the impact will be of Scottish Power's East Anglia offshore windfarm when it opens in a couple of years.
Scottish power will always need to buy power from non-renewable sources when the wind doesn't blow and streams are low. Also ironic that Scottish Power will have windfarms off East Anglia!
The greatest recent impact upon services and infrastructure across the UK has been the vast immigration in recent years.
That is simply not the case. In 1921 Scotland’s population stood at 4.88 million. By 2017 it had increased to 5.42 million. With BREXIT there is a fear that Scotland’s population could go into decline. We need more immigration not less.
My comment was the UK as a whole. However by going back to 1921 you have ignored the population decrease particular to Scotland post 1921, through emigration. Population in Scotland has increased 7% in the past 20 years, similar to Wales at 8%. Below England's 14% but many regions in England are lower than that average. It is down to opportunities for folk and clearly there are challenges in many regions across the whole of the UK.
Which leads nicely back to topic, sort of. To me it is no surprise that it is Edinburgh leading the call for a tourist tax since the city and surrounding areas appear to have the fastest population growth in Scotland. Edinburgh's population has apparently grown by 12% in the past 10 years.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/migrants-push-edinburgh-past-half-a-million-qwfl7v8hzThis states an estimated population rise in the region:
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/business/new-figures-suggest-edinburgh-s-population-set-to-rise-rapidly-1-4767549"The number of households in Midlothian is projected to rise by 36 per cent by 2041, while Edinburgh and East Lothian will increase by 26 per cent and West Lothian by 21 per cent compared with the all-Scotland figure of just 13 per cent"
"A West Lothian Council spokesman said the new figures showed that over the next few decades demand for services was going to drastically increase......Scottish Government funding is insufficient to meet the growth we’re experiencing and increasing costs. West Lothian Council currently faces a budget gap of £65 million over the next five years and we have developed a plan to bridge that gap".
So an easy method to start bridging that gap is to introduce a 'tourist tax', but this will simply be absorbed into the council's overall income. I already pay substantial taxes within my spend in visiting parts of the UK, let alone the taxes where I live and to central government. Paying additional tax, labelled as 'tourist tax', in any part of the UK is yet another back-door tax.