An Airbnb licensing scheme will wipe £133million from Scotland’s economy and threaten 7,000 jobs, ministers have been warned.

The Scottish Government wants to force homeowners who rent out their properties to go through a costly and complex licensing process.

But Tory tourism spokesman Murdo Fraser has warned of the ‘negative impacts on tourism and the wider Scottish economy for years to come’.

In a letter to the SNP Wellbeing Economy Secretary Neil Gray, Mr Fraser said Scots who used to let out their homes are now quitting the market over the measures.

A recent survey of small accommodation providers by the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC) found 61 per cent of more than 1,200 who responded planned to give up within the next year.

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