Moray tourism – Why I voted against Visit Moray Speyside and their ‘grossly unfair’ charges

Visit Moray Speyside’s demise has been welcomed by one voter who rents out a holiday cottage in Lossiemouth.

The organisation, formed in 2020 to attract more tourists to the region, wanted to continue for another five years but, when the ballots were counted last Friday, failed to gain enough support from the local businesses financing its existence.

George McLean was amongst the 75% who voted against. The 65-year-old former NHS worker was vocal in criticising the levy system employed by Visit Moray Speyside.

Because it capped payments at a maximum of £3500, regardless of size, he claims it was “grossly unfair” and discriminated against small businesses.

Mr McLean said: “If I was being charged at the same rate as a huge business like Macallan I’d have been paying just £1 a year, rather than £250.

“Or to put it another way, if Macallan were charged at the same rate as me they’d have been paying £900,000 every year instead of £3500.

“If that had been the case I reckon they’d have been complaining too about Visit Moray Speyside.

“Added to that, I was being asked to fork out £250 each year for a service I didn’t want or need. My holiday cottage is already booked up for the season.”

Friday’s vote showed a clear division between larger and smaller businesses.

The average rateable value of those who were in favour of granting another five years to Visit Moray Speyside was £160,283.

That’s was nearly ten times higher than the average value of those who voted against it (£16,695).

Mr McLean started renting out holiday lets in Lossiemouth a dozen years ago.

At his height he had three, but is now down to just a single property, having sold one and moved into another himself.

He adds that, at the end of this coming season, he intends to stop altogether.

The reason is his fear that Moray Council will introduce a tourist tax in August 2027 – a proposal the local authority is currently consulting upon.

Mr McLean said: “Some people hold the mistaken belief that renting out a holiday property is easy money. It isn’t, not by the time you’ve paid out for gas, electric, insurance, laundry, broadband, Sky, electric testing, cleaning and all the various certificates required nowadays.

“The application form for a short term lets licence is 14 pages long by itself.

“A tourist tax would mean even more bureaucracy and paperwork. It’s just not worth it any longer.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.