EDINBURGH'S decision to go for a tourist tax ("Tourism tax for capital agreed", The Herald, February 8) is well overdue. Visitors benefit from our free museums and art galleries while those in many other countries are not. For example, Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum costs €19, the Van Gogh museum costs €18 and in The Hague the Mauritshuis Museum costs €15.50 per adult. This in addition to Amsterdam's tourist tax of five per cent of accommodation costs. I do not see this affecting the number of tourists in Amsterdam or The Hague. Many other countries charge a tourist tax as well as charging for museums and art galleries so Edinburgh's belated charge should be followed by every other village, town, and city in the UK.

Colin Gunn,

259 Kingacre Road, Glasgow.