The mayor of Barcelona announced plans to immediately raise the city's tourist tax from four to eight euros per person per day, equal to about $9.32
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NEED TO KNOW
- Barcelona plans to double its tourist tax for short-stay cruise passengers to try to combat overcrowding
- Mayor Jaume Collboni aims to reduce the number of cruise visitors to zero, unless Barcelona is the origin or final destination
- Tourism accounts for 14% of Barcelona’s GDP but locals have protested overtourism in recent years
A popular European cruise destination plans to implement a 100% tax hike for short-stay travelers.
The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, announced last week that he wants to reduce the number of cruise passengers who visit the Catalan capital to zero, unless the city is their origin or final destination.
“In the coming months, we will increase the tourist tax from four to eight euros ($9.32) [per person per day] so that it comes into effect in the coming months and not in four years as we had agreed,” he said, per Spanish newspaper El Pais.
Last July, the Barcelona City Council approved a proposal to increase the tourist tax gradually over the next few years, increasing annually. However, last Wednesday, May 13, Collboni announced he wanted to raise it all at once. “I want to discourage cruise ship passengers from coming to Barcelona,” he said, per the outlet.
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“Tourism must serve the city, not the other way around. We want quality tourism, which is why we are renovating the Fira de Barcelona; we are interested in business visitors,” he says of Barcelona's convention center. “What we don't want is tourist overcrowding.”
According to the latest data from the Port of Barcelona, the facility saw over 3.5 million travelers embarking on or disembarking from cruises in the city in 2023.
The latest push comes nearly a year after the Barcelona City Council and the Port of Barcelona reached an agreement to reduce the city's number of cruise terminals. The move eliminates two of the city's seven terminals.
Credit: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty
In the summer of 2024, locals in Barcelona ramped up protests against overtourism. A small group of participants made headlines after spraying tourists with water guns.
Earlier this year, the regional parliament of Catalonia approved a law to double the tax for vacation rental guests to a maximum of 12.5 euros ($14.57) per night, up from the previous 6.25 euros, Reuters reported in February. The change comes as the Barcelona plans to ban all short-term rental accommodations by 2028.
Meanwhile, hotel guests will pay a maximum of between 10 and 15 euros per night, up from a previous 5 to 7.5 euros.
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According to the Barcelona City Council, tourism represents about 14% of the city's GDP and employs over 150,000 people.
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