Visitors to Barcelona this Easter could be in for a shock due to a last minute increase in the tourism tax introduced on 1st April.

The Catalonian government have sneakily introduced a whopping 246% increase in the tourist tax rate targeting families that stay in self-catering accommodation.

The new daily rate of £2/day (€2.25) applies to holidaymakers staying in self-catering accommodation who will now have to pay the same rate as those visitors staying in luxury 5* Barcelona hotels.

This new tourist rate of £2/day (€2.25) was confirmed by the Spanish government on 28th March and came into effect 4 days later on 1st April.

Meanwhile, travellers staying in self-catering apartments in the rest of Catalonia can expect to pay double the previous rate of 39p (€0.45) per night, increased to 77p (€0.90) per night.

Cruise passengers have also been targeted in this new tax increase.  Until now, cruise passengers who visited the city of Barcelona as part of their cruise itinerary and spent less than 12 hours exploring the city, were exempt from any kind of local tourist tax. From 1st April, disembarking passengers now have to pay 55p (€0.65) if they spend less than 12 hours on dry land.  The tourist tax rate for those spending more than 12 hours in the city remains unchanged, at £2/day (€2.25).

Holidaymakers have been left furious that they now face an additional unexpected £60 tourist tax on their Easter, May Bank Holiday weekend and half term getaway as well as their main summer holiday break in Barcelona regardless of whether they had booked their holiday before the new rate was announced on 28th March, and introduced just a few days later from 1st April onwards.

The fee is charged locally upon arrival at the accommodation and is applicable for the first seven nights stay only. This means that a family of four with kids over 16 could pay up to an extra £60 for their holiday in the Spanish sunshine.

The tourist tax is also subject to 10% VAT.

Holiday rental websites have been scrambling to update their systems and inform holidaymakers and holiday rental owners. Leading Spanish holiday rental website, Spain-Holiday.com, who provide Barcelona holiday apartments  to thousands of British holidaymakers, have created a handy tourism tax calculator to help people know exactly what they will have to pay based on where they are staying in Spain, dates and duration, and what type of accommodation they are staying in.

Speaking about the increase in tourism tax rate, Jannich Petersen, COO of Spain-Holiday.com says:

“For 96% of tourists who visit Catalonia, the new rate of €2.25/day will add only 1% to their total spending bill which goes towards upkeep costs such as clean beaches, well-maintained roads, and good facilities. Security and extra policing for major events, such as the Lady Gaga concert (21 September), Primavera Sound festival (28 May – 4 June) or the spectacular Blanes firework festival (22-26 July), are also funded by the tourism tax revenue”

Tourist taxes have existed for years in countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Greece. This year, Bath and Edinburgh have stated they are looking into the possibility of applying a tourist tax to visitors of the cities.

The money generated from the tourist tax which is applicable to all holidaymakers staying in Barcelona, the Costa Brava and the region of Catalonia in hotels, self-catering accommodation, camping and docking cruise ships is reinvested into the region to support the tourist-related infrastructure.

Since the introduction of the tourist tax in Catalonia in November 2012, a grand total of £107.5 million (€126 million) revenue in tourist tax has been generated in Catalonia which has been distributed between the Catalan Tourism Agency and local tourist boards - to produce promotion campaigns for tourism in Catalonia – as well as local town halls for infrastructure costs related to tourism.

According to figures published in August 2016, more than 10 million international tourists visited Catalonia between January and July of the same year.  To put that into perspective, that figure represents one quarter (25.3%) of all international tourists travelling to Spain during the same period.

Barcelona city receives more than 27 million visitors per year who stay in the 360 hotels and nearly 10,000 tourist apartments located around the city.

Latest figures from 2015 indicate that £38.6 million (€43.5 million) was raised, up 5.5% from revenue generated in 2014. Hotels continue to be the preferred type of accommodation for visitors to the region, with hotels generating the largest revenue of tourism tax - £29.2 million (€34.3 million). Although generating a significantly smaller amount - £3 million (€3.6 million), stays in self-catering accommodation would appear to have spiked dramatically in the previous 12 months, increasing 38.6% or £853k (€1 million) since 2014.

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Please get in touch if you would like to embed the Spain Tourist Tax Calculator on your website. You can see a live version here: https://www.spain-holiday.com/rentalbuzz/catalonia-tourist-tax-explained

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Spain is the third most visited country in the world, with approximately 65 million arrivals. With 8,000 km of coastline & beaches, beautiful heritage and entertainment—restaurants, nightlife and attractions - Spain is a top holiday destination for summer 2017.

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