Visitors to Scotland will be asked to opt-in to a new “green tax” under a revolutionary scheme being drawn up by tourism chiefs, environmental groups and the business community.

VisitScotland, WWF and business leaders agreed to pursue the ground-breaking initiative at a meeting last week and now plan further research into how such a charge would be levied and where the cash raised would be spent.
It is expected tourists would be asked to make the voluntary payment at the time of booking, with proceeds used to fund projects to benefit the environment and tourism in Scotland. Hotels, tour companies and airlines would be encouraged to use new branding to advertise their support of the scheme.
Rising carbon emissions, especially from transport, are accelerating climate change. Offsetting carbon emissions by planting trees or gardens to the “value” of the carbon consumed has become popular with large companies, celebrities and even some airlines, with levies invested in environmental projects.
Sandy Dear, project manager for the tourism and environment forum of VisitScotland said the talks had been very productive. “We are all keen to find a solution so that operators can start carbon offsetting in Scottish tourism in the near future. There was a lot of enthusiasm for moving quickly on this.”
Robin Worsnop of the Tourism Innovation Group, a private sector organistation which promotes innovation across the Scottish tourism industry, said: “From here we will seek funding to carry out a feasibility study into carbon offsetting for tourism.
 “The natural heritage, the environment of Scotland is crucial to tourism, and there is a growing global perception that consumers want to support carbon offsetting. Scotland should be a leader in this.”
Brendan Turvey of the Business Environment Partnership, which supports small business looking to become more environmentally aware, said the levy should stay in Scotland rather than go to projects in the developing world.
 “We want visitors to see that their money has direct benefits to tourism infrastructure in Scotland. Consumers are asking ‘what can I do to help the environment?’ and this would be a cheap and easy way to contribute,” he said.
Worsnop believes the model could be extended to other Scottish industries if it proves successful for tourism. The Sunday Herald understands that the group is hopeful the scheme could be up and running by early 2007.
The rock band Coldplay, broadcaster BSkyB, energy companies and several universities have all become “carbon neutral” in the past year, but the idea has not met with universal approval. Any scheme would have to work hard to entice tourists to pay more for their travel – only 0.05% of British Airways customers chose to pay a carbon-neutral surcharge when the company introduced the option, which was backed by the government, in 2005.
Friends of the Earth Scotland believes the benefits of carbon-offsetting are far from clear.
Stuart Hay, head of research, said: “It is the trendy thing to do right now, but on its own it is pretty useless in the fight against climate change. Most climate emissions associated with tourism came from transport, usually air travel. 
 “And as we have seen with BA, voluntary schemes are always doomed to failure when it comes to paying to help the environment. If it goes ahead it will have to be a mandatory charge.”
Hay also warned that VisitScotland’s target of doubling income from tourism by 2015 with a 20% rise in visitor numbers would be detrimental towards efforts aimed at halting climate change.
 “If their target can be met at the same time as reducing total emissions then fine – if it can’t then the tourism industry is going to have to amend its strategy.”
Dr Richard Dixon, of WWF, part of the group examining the feasibility of a carbon offset charge, said he understood those concerns but that “Scotland is obviously a tourist destination and will continue to be so.
“There are pitfalls in creating this new charge but overall I would give it my support because we should be seeking positive environmental steps from tourist operators at every opportunity.”