People going on holiday to a popular Spanish destination are being warned about a higher tax charge.
An increased charge has been announced for tourists who are visiting Barcelona for longer than 12 hours on a cruise. Jaume Collboni, the Mayor of Barcelona, announced that this increase is aimed at mitigating the "intensive use of public space without any benefit for the city".
The measure is intended to reduce the overwhelming influx of short-term visitors, which has sparked protests among locals who feel their city is being overrun by tourists. Currently, cruise passengers might pay around €7 per day, but the new rates could be significantly higher, reports BirminghamLive.
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"We note with concern the Mayor’s statement regarding the prospect of yet another increase to the tourism tax imposed on cruise visitors. In fact, this tax on cruise visitors has already more than tripled in the last few years," a spokesperson for the Cruise Lines International Association told "GMA" in an emailed statement.
"Barcelona University estimated that cruise visitors account for more than 13% of the tourism tax revenues collected by City Hall, while only 4% of visitors to the city arrive by cruise. We believe that residents would be better served by a holistic approach to tourism management and related taxes, that considers all forms of tourism."
The CLIA representative added that cruises have a unique ability "to work collaboratively with ports and destinations to put in place measures and solutions to improve the flow of tourists and ease pressures in popular areas and we have examples of this in other destinations in Europe."
"Tourist taxes are a rapidly growing trend," Clint Henderson, managing editor at The Points Guy, previously told "Good Morning America," adding that the fee system is increasingly popular "because it’s an easy way for cities to raise revenues without taxing local citizens. It’s also more politically palatable and it has the added benefit of helping to deal with over-tourism."
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