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Tengrinews.kz - Why countries impose tourist taxes and how they affect their economies and popularity with tourists, according to dw.com.
$100 a day - the Bhutan experience
The country with the highest tourist tax is currently the mountainous state of Bhutan. Here, travelers and climbers pay $100 a day for accommodation. The tax is levied in addition to mandatory travel expenses, such as a driver and guide, which are usually provided by travel companies for a fee.
"The people there want slow tourism, not cheap tourism. When tourists see the positive effect that the tax has there, they are happy to pay it," says Susanne Meier, a representative of the Bhutan Travel travel company.
Bhutan spends the money received from tourists in the form of a tax on helping 800 thousand citizens. The funds are spent on health, education and infrastructure, as well as on supporting the environment and helping local businesses. In 2023, the country reported receiving $26 million in revenue from the tax.
However, the high tax also hinders the growth of tourism. In 2023, only 103 thousand tourists visited Bhutan, most of them Indian citizens, who pay a lower tax.
On the island of Mallorca, the tourist tax was adopted to slightly reduce the influx of tourists. With a population of 960 thousand people, 13 million people visited the island last year. In 2016, a tax on tourist accommodation was introduced depending on the category of the hotel. Vacationers pay up to 4 euros. According to the plans of the Balearic Islands government, the tax can be increased to six euros, and also canceled in winter. The money goes to the sustainable development of the island. However, the tax has not deterred tourists from visiting Mallorca, and their number is growing every year.
Taxes do not scare away tourists
A professor at the Balearic University in the capital of Mallorca, Palma, notes that the impact of taxes on tourist demand is not significant. In Barcelona, for example, tourists pay up to 7.5 euros per day, depending on the hotel. In Berlin, the tax is levied on 7.5 percent of the overnight stay. In Paris, you may soon have to pay a tax of 16 euros per night in the most expensive hotel. However, it is still unclear at what price tourists may start to think about changing destinations.
Harald Zeiss, a professor at the Institute for Sustainable Tourism in Wernigerode, Germany, says that many destinations use income from tourist taxes to offset their impact on the environment, fund sustainable development projects and maintain tourist infrastructure.
But despite the taxes, residents of particularly popular tourist cities continue to protest against the invasion of large numbers of travelers. In Barcelona, residents are faced with the fact that locals are suffering from rising rental prices due to short-term vacation rentals from companies such as Airbnb. Barcelona officials say they intend to use the money from the tax to fund projects that benefit the general public, not just the tourism sector.
Are tourists willing to pay high taxes?
Venice introduced its much-talked-about tourist tax in 2024. Day-trippers will have to pay an entrance fee of €5 on 29 peak seasonal days. Opposition politicians criticized the fee for being too low to deter tourists from visiting the overcrowded city. As a result, Venice has increased the number of days the fee can be collected to 54. Anyone who fails to pay the fee four days before their visit will now have to pay €10. It remains to be seen whether a few extra euros will deter anyone from visiting the sinking city.
"For most people, going on holiday is not a luxury, but a basic need. Taxes are generally accepted by tourists quite well," said researcher Jaume Rossello of the University of the Balearic Islands.
However, an excessively high tax, such as Bhutan's, does have an impact on the number of tourists. According to Susanne Meier, bookings dropped significantly after the tax was raised to $200 from $65.
