Tourists visiting Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia, which includes popular resorts along the Costa Brava, might have to pay up to €15 per person per night tax.
The Catalan government signed an agreement last Thursday that will allow Barcelona and resorts in Catalonia to double the current tourist tax, if they choose.
Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni announced hours after the deal was made public that the Catalan capital will increase the tax, but he said this will be ‘thoughtful and reasonable’.
He did not specify when the increase will take place but said that it ‘should be a debate to have when preparing next year’s spending’.
If the city goes for the maximum raise, it will mean tourists will pay more tax in Barcelona than anywhere else in Europe, pushing it ahead of Paris, which charges up to €11.38 a night, and Rome, which charges up to €10.
Other parts of Catalonia, including popular resorts such as Salou, Tarragona, Lloret de Mar and Sitges, can increase the tourist tax if they introduce a surcharge already applicable in Barcelona.
Barcelona currently charges guests in four-star hotels €5.70 per night, while for guests staying in five-star hotels it’s €7.50 (£6.10)
A parliamentary spokesperson for the left-wing Comuns party, David Cid, said doubling the tourist tax was a ‘proportionate and fair’ measure.
“A person who comes to Catalonia paying €400 or €500 for a night in a hotel can pay €7 more,” he told Spanish radio network Cadena Ser.
“We have a record number of tourists, and the new figures we are talking about for the tax do not impose any limits.”
He argued that similar measures are being proposed across Europe. “This is the trend at the European level,” he said.
However, the Barcelona Hotel Association has condemned the decision to increase the tourist tax, warning it could harm the city’s competitiveness.
The association also demanded that the Tourism Promotion Fund, which is funded by the tax, be used primarily to improve tourism infrastructure in Catalonia. At least 25% of money raised by the tax will be allocated to housing.
The Costa Brava-Pirineu de Girona tourist apartments’ association also expressed anger at the decision to increase the tourist tax.
“When visitors travel in family, these taxes need to be multiplied by four or five people, with the cost that this will mean to families,” the association’s President Esther Torrent told the Catalan News Agency.
Girona hotels’ guild also rejected the proposal.
