The region is doubling the tourist tax, and this is bad news for vacationers

Holidaymakers have received bad news as a popular tourist location is planning to double their tourist tax starting in April.

Parliament has passed a law that will allow Catalunya to double its tourist tax meaning that the charge could reach €15 a night in some luxury Barcelona hotels by 2029.

The charge for all Catalunya areas, except the capital, will gradually increase from 1 April to 31 March 2027. 

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By this date next year it will have grown from €3 to €4.5 per night and will then increase again to 6. 

In Barcelona, the increase will be even more rapid. The tax will rise by 100% immediately from April 1. For five star hotels it will go from €3.5 to €7 as soon as April begins.

PSC and Comuns Parties voted for this change.

Susana Martinez, the PSC delegate in the debate, said that tourist tax does not impact the number of tourists and increasing it is ‘common sense’ as it helps to maintain public services.

One quarter of the tax revenue will go to public housing, with the remaining seventy-five percent going to the Fomento del Turismo fund. 

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The money collected will be used to improve security, clean the health centre and increase staff, says David Cid, Comuns spokesperson. 

The new regulation will allow the Barcelona City Council, in addition to this tax, to increase the maximum amount of surcharge it can add. It will rise from €4 to €8. 

This change has been approved as an annual increase of one euro up to a maximum of €8 in 2029. 

Other city councils will also be able to add their own surcharge of up to €4.

Despite many defending this change, there are parties that voted against the new law.

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One of these was Vox whose MP, Javier Ramirez, said that ‘people are buying into the narrative of tourismphobia and fiscal extortion’. 

He criticised that 25% of the money will go towards housing saying: ‘What fault lies with a family that freely comes to visit the city, to boost the economy, that they have caused the housing market to collapse? “None at all”.

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