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What is the tourist tax, how much is it and where in Spain do you have to pay it?

Tourist taxes are becoming more common in cities around the world, meaning holidaymakers having to pay extra for hotel rooms

The tourist tax is a surcharge that, in the last few years before the Covid-19 pandemic, became popular in several cities that were in great demand by tourists.

Amsterdam, Rome, Lisbon and Berlin are some of the European capitals that have introduced the tourist tax, charging a supplement for each night spent in a hotel or in tourist accommodation in the city.

The amount varies from city to city, and is set according to criteria such as the type of accommodation the tourist is staying in, the number of nights they stay for and how old they are. Generally, though, in Spain, the tourist tax is set at around 1 euro per night.

In practice, this makes hotels 1 euro more expensive, and many detractors of the tourist tax claim that such price increases will deter tourists from visiting that city.

Before the outbreak of the pandemic, cities such as London and Dublin were planning to incorporate the scheme, but this was halted by Covid. Now that the tourism sector is beginning to recover, the tourist tax is once again on the table.

Where do you have to pay tourist tax 2024?

In Europe, the countries that charge the tourist tax are Portugal (Lisbon, Oporto), France (Paris), Germany (Berlin), Italy (Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice), Austria (Vienna), the Czech Republic (Prague), Belgium (Brussels) and the Netherlands (Amsterdam).

Vienna has seen an increase of more than 3% in room rates, Brussels charges up to almost 9 euros in five-star hotels, and in Paris if the price of the room is more than 200 euros, there is a 2% surcharge.

In the USA, New York charges a tourist tax of around $4.20 (4 euros), while other cities have increased their nightly rates by just over 3%.

The tourist tax in Japan varies according to the length of stay and is charged on hotel stays of more than 10,000 yen per person per night (around 75 euros), increasing by 100 yen (0.74 euros).

Where do you have to pay tourist tax in Spain 2024?

In Spain, the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza) charges tourists between 1 and 4 euros per person per night for a holiday stay, and Catalonia (Barcelona) currently charges between 0.45 and 2.25 euros per person per night.

For stopover cruise passengers in Barcelona, the tourist tax currently stands at 7 euros per person per day.

Other areas such as the Valencian Community and Alicante (Benidorm, Torrevieja) are considering implementing the tourist tax, and so is the city of Seville, both to great opposition.

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