Famous Spanish city will introduce tourist tax soon

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Over tourism has been caused the recent explosion in travel post-pandemic is compelling countries to introduce steps to strike a balance between a strong tourism and a high-quality life. In Europe, the past weeks alone have witnessed a Barcelona shop charging tourists for window shopping.

Whereas, Portugal was seen penalizing the beachgoers for playing loud music on the beaches and Amsterdam took strong actions to stop cruise ships from entering the city centre. 

Spain at this moment is jumping the bandwagon. The home to the iconic cathedral on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, Santiago de Compostela – is all prepared to bring in a tourist tax with an intention to restrain overtourism. In 2022, the city saw a record of a huge 439,000 pilgrims that’s quite on the higher side compared to the pre-pandemic times and this summer, it is all geared up to welcome more visitors.

Well, the question that’s lurking is how much will it be? In 2025, the proposal is for a tourist tax to be introduced to the hoteliers. This could be a nightly fee of around €0.50 and €2.50. It would depend on the type of housing style people opt for. Spanish officials consider that the tax could increase anywhere between €2.5 and €3 million per year.

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