Kate Garraway was left stunned by a "rude gesture" made during a live interview on Good Morning Britain. Presenting alongside Rob Rinder from ITV's central London studios, the pair discussed Edinburgh's newly introduced tourist levy.
The visitor charge, now in force, adds an extra 5% to bookings for hotels, bed and breakfasts, and self-catering properties. They spoke to Jane Meagher, Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, who highlighted the benefits of the levy live from a street in the Scottish capital.
Passerby makes offensive gesture
A passerby made an offensive gesture behind Jane while she spoke to the camera. Kate told viewers: "Just to say, Jane, you won't be aware because you were talking so elegantly to us with the gorgeous vision of Edinburgh behind, but somebody came past doing a rather rude gesture. So, if you're watching at home and you saw, that is no reflection on Jane or indeed Edinburgh."
Explaining the reasoning behind the tax's introduction, Jane said: "So, we've introduced this tax because anybody who lives or works in this city will know that over the years, the number of visitors has risen massively. So, in the latest year where we have figures, there were five million visits a night in this city. Now, this is brilliant for everybody, but inevitably it brings extra cost. We can't have that. We can't have local people paying for that. So, what we want to do, as well, is grow and maintain the city as a visitor attraction, and that is where the visitor levy money will go. It will all be invested into Edinburgh."
Opposition from hospitality sector
Allen Simpson, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, strongly opposed the proposal. Speaking to Rob and Kate in the studio, he said: "Jane will say in a minute, I'm absolutely certain, 'This is normal. You go to Paris, you go to Berlin, you go to Rome, and you pay these taxes.' But in those places, VAT on a hotel room is only 10%, so actually, with this new tax, it's going to cost twice as much to go to Edinburgh than going to Paris."
