European tourism centres are raising tourist taxes

Local authorities in Europe's popular tourism cities are revising tourist taxes and introducing additional fees. The goal is to reduce excessive visitor flows. According to information Vesti.az reported with reference to foreign media, in some cases the new charges can increase vacation costs by tens of euros per day.

In Amsterdam, the tourist tax amounts to 12.5% of the cost of staying at a hotel. The local government is discussing raising it first to 16% and then to 20%. In this case, a tourist will have to pay an additional 40 euros for a room costing 200 euros per night.

In Venice, on the busiest days, day-trippers are charged a fee of up to 10 euros, and raising it to 30 euros is under discussion, but a final decision has not yet been made. In Barcelona, the tourist tax for hotels and rented apartments reaches 15 euros per night; the introduction of additional fees for cruise ship passengers who stay in the city for less than 12 hours is also being considered.

Other destinations are not left out of this trend either: in Vienna the fee has been raised to 5% and could reach 8% in the coming months, Edinburgh envisages a tourist tax of 5% of the cost of stay, Greece has in place additional charges that finance climate resilience measures, and Spain's Balearic Islands also levy a tourist tax. As an example of high fees outside Europe, Bhutan is cited: foreign travelers pay a special fee for sustainable development and environmental protection.

For hotels and tour operators sending guests from Azerbaijan to Europe, this is a new cost item that must be taken into account when calculating package prices — especially in destinations such as Amsterdam and Barcelona, where the amount added to the nightly rate changes the guest's overall budget.