As part of the ongoing efforts to battle overtourism, city officials in Barcelona announced that the tourist tax for cruise passengers visiting the city for less than 12 hours would be “substantially” increased.
According to Sky News, Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni confirmed the tourism tax would increase but did not confirm how much the price would jump. The current tax for stopover cruise passengers is currently €7 ($7.60.)
“We are going to propose substantially increasing the tax for stopover cruise passengers,” Collboni said. “In the case of stopover cruise passengers (less than 12 hours) there is intensive use of public space without any benefit for the city and a feeling of occupation and saturation.”
“We want to have tourism that is respectful of the destination,” Collboni continued.
Collboni said the Catalan regional government would need to approve the proposal, but explains that tourists should pay for local projects. The mayor also revealed last month that the city would ban short-term apartment rentals by 2028.
In 2023, Barcelona received more than 12 million tourists.
