In 2021 a fee of 0.75 euros will apply; one euro in 2022 and 2023 and 1.25 euros in 2024
The Barcelona Economy and Finance Commission has approved this Tuesday the creation of a municipal surcharge to the tourist tax for the city, which will begin to be collected from June 2021.
The measure has been approved with the votes in favor of the municipal government of BComú and PSC and the municipal group of ERC, and the Councilor for Tourism, Xavier Marcé, explained that it is a surcharge agreed with the sector and that it will have a return for the tourist promotion of the city.
He added that a report that confirms “a reliable recovery of tourist activity will also be necessary to collect the surcharge”, which will have a progressive application between 2021 and 2024.
In 2021 a fee of 0.75 euros will apply; one euro in 2022 and 2023 and, finally, 1.25 euros in 2024, far from the first forecasts, which proposed charging up to 4 euros.
The municipal groups of JxCat, Cs, PP, and BCN Canvi have regretted the measure: ” It makes no sense to charge a surcharge to a sector that has been closed for 15 months,” said councilor Elsa Artadi (JxCat).
Artadi, who voted in favor of creating this surcharge at the end of 2019, considers that “now is not the time”, and Cs Councilor Paco Sierra recalled that most hotels are closed and that, by the time they reopen, the surcharge will be a burden to them.
The president of the PP in Barcelona, ​​Josep Bou, has said that he sees the surcharge “incomprehensible” in a sector that has suffered so seriously the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, and Councilor Eva Parera (BCN Canvi) has said that the wrong message is sent about the city and the sector.
