Barcelona Votes to Raise Tourist Tax Yet Again in 2024

“Welcome!” is usually how places greet their tourists, but that is not the case for Barcelona, for the city is tired of visitors and wants them to stop coming. Their frustration has reached such levels that the place has voted yet again, just in 2024, to increase its tourist tax to discourage inbound visitors.

‘Don’t Come Here’ Shouts Barcelona

Since 2012, Barcelona, witnessing a massive surge of tourists around the year, has asked incoming visitors to pay an extra fee, ‘city tax’, to visit the city, and ten years later, in 2022, the city authorities announced that the set tourist tax would be increased over the next two years.

Cut to April 2024, when the city increased its tourist tax from €2.75 to €3.25. However, the amount was not enough to discourage the influx, as Barcelona still remains Spain’s most visited city. So, the city council, once again, voted to increase the tourist tax in the year. From October onwards, the tourist fee will be €4 per person.

Pay Up to Enter

Barcelona has one of the highest tourist taxes in Europe with visitors having to pay regional tax as well as the city tax. The regional tax depends on the tourist's accommodation – for regular hotels, it is €1.70, €2.25 for rentals, and €3.50 for five-star and other luxury hotels. The city tax, which has been subjected to increase, will now be €4 per night. Cruise passengers having a pit stop in the place are also expected to pay city tax with stays of less than 12 hours amounting to €3 and more amounting to €2. 

Why The Tax?

The city authorities have stated ‘quality tourism’ as an answer to the increased tourist tax amount, claiming that the city sees an average of 32 million tourists annually. With many locals and tourist places complaining of increased tourists in the city, so much so that it has started disrupting their daily lives, the city was forced to take measures to safeguard itself. The city also claims that the increased revenue will help with the town's maintenance, like improving roads, bus services, and escalators.

“It was the objective sought: to contain the number of tourists and increase tourist income because our model is no longer mass tourism but quality tourism, which adds value to the city,” said Jaume Collboni, mayor, Barcelona.

With Spain set to become the world’s most visited destination in the next 15 years, the authorities are taking various measures to prevent this prediction from becoming a reality. This includes a full-on ban on holiday apartments, increased tourist fees, restrictions on various tourist places, etc., and the public even protesting the increasing tourism. Still, the crowd keeps flocking to the Spanish city.