Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Travelers from the United Kingdom planning trips to Spain should be informed of a new fee that will soon be implemented in one of the nation’s largest cities.In an effort to restrict “uncontrolled tourism,” regional officials in Santiago de Compostela plan to implement a tourist fee.
Every year, pilgrims throng to the medieval city’s Baroque cathedral, which is best known as the Pilgrim’s Way’s terminus. 439,000 people arrived in 2022 alone.
The proposed tax is scheduled to be implemented on hotels in the city starting in 2025. Depending on the kind of lodging, tourists will be charged between €0.50 and €2.50 per person.
According to Spanish officials, this levy might bring in between €2.5 and €3 million for Santiago de Compostela every year, with the money going toward maintaining the old city center.
The city will transition from being a tourist attraction and theme park to a destination for sustainable tourism, according to newly elected mayor Goretti Sanmartin. She made the following statement to the local media, “We want to take advantage of a thriving and wealthy tourism industry, as well as a cozy and airy city.
She added, “I want a Santiago from which there is no need to flee due to uncontrolled tourism. We aspire to… enjoy a rich and prosperous tourism sector but also a comfortable and breathable city.”
The issues of managing overcrowded tourism, according to Ms. Sanmartin, concentrate upon raising “awareness” among the general population.
She explained, “It’s not so much the issue of the number of people who arrive, but of the people’s knowledge of the fact that the basic norms of coexistence must be respected, and respect and care for the heritage must be guaranteed. It’s more an issue of awareness that we have to address from the very beginning.”
The Mayor listed various issues that needed significant financial investment, such as management of the historical heritage, security, and sanitary conditions, and claimed that the tourist fee would pay for these.
Santiago de Compostela is not the only Spanish vacation site where travelers must fork over more money; many other popular vacation spots have already instituted a “tourist tax” that charges guests a fee just for staying the night.
In 2012 and 2016, respectively, Catalonia, which includes Barcelona, and the Balearic Islands, which include Mallorca and Ibiza, introduced such a tax, asking tourists to pay up to €4 (£3.50) per night while they are there.
The increase in the surcharge was approved by the regional government in 2021, enabling Barcelona City Council to charge up to €4 per night. The highest overnight rate for tourists as of April 1 of this year is €2.75 (£2.40), although this is scheduled to increase once more in April of next year to €3.25 (£2.80).
Where travelers stay in Barcelona can affect how much they pay, with five-star hotels often charging more than vacation homes. Additionally, cruise passengers that stay in Barcelona for more than 12 hours must pay a tax.Tourists must pay between €0.60 (£0.52) and €3.00 (£2.60) a night in Catalonia’s larger territory, with the price varying by location and kind of lodging.
In another instance, authorities in the Spanish area of Valencia have been given the go-ahead to implement a fee of up to €2 (£1.75) per person every night. The tax was approved in the area in November 2022 and is scheduled to go into effect in December of this year.
Fees will vary depending on the type of lodging and will range from €0.50 (£0.43) to €2.00 (1.75) per night.Popular vacation spots like the Costa Blanca and Alicante could be impacted, but the decision to implement the tax will be made by the individual towns in the Valencia region. Benidorm officials have previously stated that they do not want to impose the additional fee.
Tourists should expect to pay about €4 (£3.50) per night in the Balearic Islands, depending on the kind of lodging they choose and the season they travel.
However, this sum may climb higher in Mallorca as a result of approaching elections, as the political group Més per Mallorca has proposed raising the tax by as much as 60%.
A tourist tax is also being considered by the regions of Galicia and San Sebastian, and if Reyes Maroto is elected mayor of Madrid, the former minister of tourism has also mentioned imposing one there.
Tags: spain, Tourism tax, Traveler
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