A TRAILBLAZING exercise aimed at creating a new Scottish tourist tax has got underway.

Edinburgh City Council, which is run by a SNP-Labour coalition, launched a public consultation on the idea, which it says could raise millions for public services.

The Scottish Government has so far resisted giving councils the power for a so-called ‘transient visitor levy’ (TVL), but is also planning its own consultation on the idea.

The proposed Edinburgh tax would see visitors charged either £2 or 2% of the cost of their overnight accommodation.

It would be charged all year round, but capped at a maximum of seven nights.

The council is asking the tourism sector, businesses, investors, visitors and residents their views on the concept and what income from it should be spent on.

The online consultation will run for eight weeks alongside a series of stakeholder workshops.

Glasgow and Highland councils are also backing their own local versions of a tourist tax.

Research suggests Edinburgh, which spent £1m cleaning up during the summer festival season, could raise up to £13m a year to help ease the strain on public services.

If the government grants the capital the power to levy the tax, it would be the first city in the UK to introduce one, although similar taxes are commonplace across the EU.

Adam McVey, the SNP leader of Edinburgh City Council said: "We have always acknowledged the need for legislation in taking this forward, but we as a council have also maintained the need to develop our own plans to make sure it's not just any TVL but the right TVL for Edinburgh, taking account of our local circumstances.

"Our plans have been developed through engagement with the industry and we see this consultation, alongside the Scottish Government's, as a way of further co-producing a scheme that works best for the city and our stakeholders.

"We are very much listening to everyone involved around what they believe is a fair, simple and workable policy."

Last month, the First Minister was warned by the Scottish Tourism Alliance a TVL could damage business and was “the biggest issue facing our industry today”.

At the STA’s annual conference, chief executive March Crothall told her: “Taxing our visitors more, given the current economic uncertainty, the tax regimes already in place, and with business costs rising, and our biggest market - Scots and UK residents - also seeing their household budgets being squeezed, it is without question not the right thing to do.”