Politicians in Spain’s Barcelona vote to DOUBLE tourist tax by 2029

Barcelona, Spain: Politicians vote to DOUBLE tourism tax by 2029

Louise Brown July 29, 2025 Travel Leave a comment

BARCELONA’s crusade to punish tourists is not slowing down, after the city council decided to increase visitor fees over the next four-year period.

The incremental rises of €1 per year mean tourists will have to pay €8 per person, per night by 2029 – double the current surcharge of €4.

This levy is separate from the Catalan Tourist Tax, which varies according to accommodation and duration of stay.

That demand is also set to rise, with visitors staying in swanky five-star hotels forced to fork out up to €7 per night.

In total, that means a single tourist visiting the Catalan capital could have to cough up €15 for each night of their stay – with all the cash heading into the council’s coffers.

Elisenda alamany, local leader of the pro-independence, left-wing ERC, sought to defend this tax hike by saying: “The more visitors pay, the less the residents will have.”

She added, “Managing tourism in this city is common sense.”

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After councillors approved the proposal, tourists visiting Barcelona will face a higher tax. Credit: CordonPress

The socialist PSOE also supported the proposal, while councillors of the conservative Partido Popular and the far-right Vox were opposed.

The pro-independence Junts Per Catalunya party, led by Carles Puigdemont (a former Catalan President and fugitive of Spanish justice), abstained from voting on the issue.

Barcelona City Council collected €106.5 million from tourist taxes in 2024, with money funnelled back into local projects including public-space improvements, tourist flow management, cleaning, street lighting, public transport and security.

The levy, along with capital gains and property taxes, is the third biggest source of revenue for the City Council.

In an attempt to ease the housing shortage in the region, the socialists who are ruling the country agreed earlier this year to spend 25% of the revenue generated by the Catalan tourism tax on housing policy.

Locals think that tourist-occupied lodgings should be used for city residents. Many of them have been forced out of the centre of the city and into the suburbs due to the skyrocketing rental prices.

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