THE director of one of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe's key venues has backed the idea of a tourism tax for Scotland's capital.
The subject of the levy came to the fore after Julia Amour, the new head of Festivals Edinburgh, said the city needs to seriously consider a visitor tax to raise money for its annual festivals.
A tourism tax would help mitigate the 'fiscal cliff' facing the festivals as public finances are stretched, Ms Amour said.
Karen Koren, artistic director of The Gilded Balloon, also said she backs the idea, adding that many other cities already have tourist taxes - such as charges on hotel bed prices - in place already.
She said: "I agree with a tourism tax.
"Edinburgh has long been a tourist destination.
"It is such a beautiful city and a lovely place to live and to visit.
"If the money raised is used sensibly to enhance the tourist experience; and helping towards keeping the city’s streets clean and tidy and the roads free from potholes, then it's got to be a good thing.
"Other cities have a tourism tax, so why not Edinburgh?"
The Fringe Society, which runs the annual festival, has also now commented on the levy.
It said in a statement: “The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is committed to ensuring the world’s largest and globally renowned open access arts festival continues to thrive in Edinburgh each year.
“The cultural, economic and social contribution which all of Edinburgh’s festivals bring to the city is world class and all options should be explored in order to maintain Edinburgh's status as the world’s leading festival city.”
The city council is also lobbying for the power to levy a charge, likely to be a hotel bed charge.
The Scottish Government has yet to agree to the idea, with Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop neither ruling it in or out.
Major cultural venues in the city came out in favour of the tourism levy idea last week.
Andrew Kerr, the new chief executive of the City of Edinburgh Council, said the city has to pursue some form of tourist tax.
Other major cities in Europe and the world already have tourism taxes in place.
Council leader Andrew Burns said that Edinburgh’s festivals face being “left behind” by their competitors if the city does not bring in such a levy.
He said it was time for the city to “get serious” and it would be a major mistake for the city to “ignore the reality” of local government finances.
Mr Kerr said: “We should be doing everything to sustain the tourism industry in the city and keep Edinburgh at the forefront of world tourism. We are a small city. We need to be competitive in every way.
"We do have to find a tourism levy of some kind. I don’t know the answer, or which way that is, I don’t care, but one thing is for certain, we cannot carry on as we are and hope to maintain the infrastructure and the way we are doing things. The resources are definitely shrinking – we have to find some alternatives."
Last week John Donnelly, chief executive of Marketing Edinburgh, supported calls for a new charge or tax to help fund culture in the capital.
He said that the "status quo is untenable".
Ms Amour said it was "reasonable to expect" the many businesses that benefit from the annual festivals to contribute towards them through a levy - likely a bed tax on hotel room charges.
Councillor Richard Lewis, culture convenor for the council, also said he supports a targeted levy to specifically support cultural activities in the city.
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