I'm a tourist who, with my wife, is just completing a second week in Scotland on a self-catering cottage summer holiday during which we go walking every day. We spent a week on Harris last week and are in the Coigach region this week. This is the third successive summer that we've spent in the Highlands and Islands with previous weeks being on South Uist, Lewis, Kintyre and Islay.
It's been very noticeable that, compared with Kintyre and the islands, the roads north of Ullapool are swarming with motorhomes and camper vans. We drive about 20 miles from a 'fast' road to our cottage along a single-track road and these vehicles are a pain that we've not suffered before! So I'd be in favour of a tax that reduced their numbers - or a limit on the types of roads they're allowed to use.
I do wonder though if there's a somewhat parochial view on the question of a tourist tax for the Highland area. I live in Kent (near Canterbury), and we apparently get more than 60 million visitors a year. And that tourism apparently brings in around £4 billion a year. So if there's to be a Highland visitor tax, then why not a Kent visitor tax? Or a Peak District visitor tax?... And if everywhere that gets tourists (which is almost everywhere) has a visitor tax, then why not simplify things by taxing everyone who goes on holiday in the UK via increases in fuel and transport prices? Problem solved!