Barcelona doubles tourism tax to one of highest in Europe to fund housing
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The authorities in Catalonia are grappling with how to address increasingly vocal protests from residents about the excessive numbers of tourists.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MADRID - Tourists in Barcelona could be taxed as much as €15 (S$22.35) a night after the city raised its tourism fee to one of the highest in Europe as part of efforts to curb visitor numbers and help finance affordable housing.
The regional Parliament of Catalonia on Feb 25 approved a law to double the tax for hotel guests in Barcelona from April to a maximum of between €10 and €15 per night, up from a current €5 to €7.5, depending on the hotel category.
A two-night stay for a couple at a four-star hotel, the category of nearly half of all hotels in the city, could now cost an extra €45.60, as the local authority can charge up to €11.4 per night per person.
Guests at five-star hotels could be charged up to €15 a night and cruise passengers will continue to pay around €6.
The authorities in Catalonia are grappling with how to address increasingly vocal protests from residents about excessive numbers of tourists they say are pushing up housing prices by driving a rise in short-term holiday lets.
A quarter of the revenue raised will help address the city’s housing crisis, according to the law’s text.
Barcelona already announced plans to ban all short-term rental accommodation by 2028. In the meantime, holiday rental guests will pay a maximum €12.5 in tax per night, up from €6.25.
Before the tax raise, Barcelona ranked 11th in holiday-rental platform Holidu’s 2025 list, behind Amsterdam, where tourists paid the most in Europe at €18.45 per day.
Hotel owners are concerned the tax rise could have unintended consequences and are unsure whether or not it will drive away too many of the around 15.8 million tourists who visit Barcelona each year.
The city ranks among the top four in the world for conventions, according to the local tourism board, and attendees will not be exempt from the levy.
Mr Manel Casals, general director of Barcelona’s hoteliers’ group, said proposals to raise the tax gradually to monitor its effects were ignored.
“One day they will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs,” he said. REUTERS
