Glasgow City Council is to set up a team examining the case for introducing a tourist tax for visitors, The Herald has learned.

The move follows councillors in Edinburgh last week backing a plan to introduce the charge, officially known as the transient visitor levy, which it has been estimated could generate £50m for services in the capital.

Consideration is now to be given on whether Scotland's largest city should follow suit with officials examining the potential of how much a tourist tax could generate as part of broader range of proposals on using of new powers given to local authorities to bring in extra money. The work will be part of the local authority's budget setting process which is finalised early next year.

"As part of our budget this year, we are looking at a number of service reform projects – this includes establishing a project team that will be expected to examine the business case for new and emerging income-generation powers, including a transient visitor levy,"  a spokesman for Glasgow City Council told The Herald.

"Any detailed proposal would still need to come back to committee for a decision in the future."

Edinburgh city council had long championed the policy but progress on bringing it in was slow after the Scottish Government put legislation to hand over powers to local authorities on hold during the pandemic and the aftermath of the crisis as businesses tried to recover.

Under the plans for Edinburgh, which it is hoped will be rolled out in time for the 2026 festival season, visitors would face a 5% charge - making Edinburgh the first place in Scotland to charge a transient visitor levy (TVL) on overnight stays. Anyone staying in rooms in hotels, B&Bs, self-catering accommodation, and those let through websites such as Airbnb would be charged the tourist tax.

Edinburgh residents will be asked whether the 5% charge included in the initial proposal should be higher or lower as part of a 12-week consultation to start in the autumn. The Scottish Greens have proposed raising the tax to as high as 8%.

Figures published last year revealed that Glasgow attracted 2.65 million visitors in 2022 who stayed in the city as part of a holiday or short break bringing an associated spend to the city of £953 million.

World-leading events which have taken place in recent years have included the UN's climate change conference COP 26 in 2021 as well as sporting events such as the World Cycling Championships and the World Indoor Athletics Championships this year.

The Commonwealth Games was held in Glasgow in 2014 with a possibility it could do so again in 2026.

Some form of tourist tax is already in place in many European cities including Athens, Barcelona Paris, Rome and Florence with some using a “progressive visitor levy” which charges a higher tax for a more luxurious accommodation.

While supporters of the levy in Glasgow look at its success elsewhere there is concern among some that it could put off some organisations holding major events in the city in favour of other destinations or tourists from visiting.

Cash strapped Glasgow City Council last year announced it would be cutting 450 teaching jobs over the next three years in a bid to save money.

The Herald reported last year that charging non-residents to visit the city's award-winning museums and galleries was under consideration as the local authority looked to raise more of its own revenue.

Ricky Bell, depute leader of Glasgow City Council,  told The Herald the local authority could not continue to "salami-slice" services, and cited the example of Birmingham City Council, which declared itself bankrupt after being hit with a £760million bill to settle equal pay claims.