Popular cruise stop announces 100% tax hike on incoming passengers
Cruise passengers stopping off in Barcelona are set to find their trips becoming increasingly more expensive, after the city’s mayor announced plans to double the tourist tax effective immediately.
The popular European tourist spot will now see cruise passengers stopping off there hit with a daily tax of 8 euros, equating to around $9.32 per person, per day, as part of a wider bid to reduce the number of cruise passengers who visit the Catalan capital to zero, unless the city is their origin or final destination.
While the tax itself is modest, it marks a stark increase from the original 4 euro fee that was in place up until recently, and could see an average family of four, for example, hit with fees of almost $40 a day.
“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,”said the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, per Spanish newspaper El Pais.
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The original plan had been to implement the increase slowly, by gradually increasing the tax incrementally over the next four years until it hit the 8 euro target before 2030.
However, as of May 13, it appears Collboni is no longer content to wait, as he announced plans to hike the tax immediately in one single increase.
“I want to discourage cruise ship passengers from coming to Barcelona,” he said, per the outlet.
“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.”
Around 14% of Barcelona’s total GDP comes from the tourism industry, which is also the main source of employment for over 150,000 people.
Yet despite this, the people of Barcelona have become increasingly frustrated with the number of tourists visiting their city and contributing to things such as inflated rental prices and overcrowding.
It was these two key issues, among several others that led to the citizens protesting tourists in 2024 and even spraying visitors with water guns in a show of their discontent.
Yet it isn’t just a new tourism tax that visitors face, but increased costs for accommodation too with the Catalonian government having signed off on 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, as per Reuters.
All short term holiday rentals are also due to be banned as of 2028, meaning only established hotels will be able to continue housing visitors as part of the same tourism crackdown.
However guests staying at these will also face increased taxation, with fees of between 10 and 15 euros per night, up from a previous 5 to 7.5 euros.
Phoebe Tonks