Barcelona increases its tourist tax this week: Where else will you have to pay to enter in 2024?

05.04.2024 - 22:41 / euronews.com / Ruth Wright

Overtourism could have been 2023's word of the year in the travel industry.

News of the negative impacts of too many tourists was everywhere. The world's most popular destinations, like Venice, Barcelona and New Zealand, are struggling to keep visitor numbers under control. 

What is the problem with overtourism? Well, local residents suffer as property becomes unaffordable due to landlords buying up holiday lets. Authorities struggle to manage the rubbish left behind by tourists, and pollution contributes to the climate crisis.

One tactic that destinations are banking on, literally, is tourist taxes: fees that visitors have to pay, on top of the usual expenses like accommodation and food.

This is not a new concept, of course. If you've travelled abroad, you've likely paid a tourist tax before. You may never even have noticed it - as it’s sometimes worked into airline tickets or the taxes you pay at your hotel.

Read on for the places that introduced tourist taxes in 2023, and those that are to come in 2024.

In 2022, city authorities announced that Barcelona’s tourist tax would be increased over the next two years.

Since 2012, visitors to the Catalan capital have had to pay both the regional tourist tax and an extra city-wide surcharge.

On 1 April 2023, city authorities increased the municipal fee to €2.75.

A second increase will happen on 1 April 2024, when the fee will rise to €3.25.

The tax applies to visitors staying in official tourist accommodation.

The council said the proceeds will be used to fund the city’s infrastructure, including improvements to roads, bus services and escalators. 

Portimão has followed in the footsteps of neighbouring towns by introducing a tourist tax in March.

The port city in Portugal's Algarve will vary the tax from high to low season, setting it at €2 per night from April to October and €1 per night from November to March. 

Olhão, a Portuguese fishing town popular with tourists, similarly started charging visitors €2 a night between April and October last year. The tax is reduced to €1 between November and March. It does not apply to children under the age of 16 and is capped at five nights - so a maximum of €10 - per trip.

The fees are being used to minimise the impact of tourism on the Algarve towns, including improving cleanliness, security and sustainability. 

Two of the Algarve's 16 municipalities already charged a tourist tax: Faro (€1.5 per night up to seven nights between March and October) and Vila Real de Santo António (€1 per day up to seven days).

Known as the Land of the Gods, Bali attracts visitors from all over the world to its beaches, islands and spiritual culture.

But tourism also means problems and Bali is hoping to solve some of these with a new tax that must be