Mayor Jaume Collboni wants to put an end to cruises that only spend a few hours in Barcelona.
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“Tourism must be at the service of the city, and not the other way around – Collboni himself just stated this Wednesday afternoon in an interview on the Betevé television channel -. We have to set limits on certain activities. These types of cruises spend very little time in the city, and their passengers do most of their consumption on the ship, but their visits put great pressure on space and public services.”
And to achieve this, Mayor Collboni announced that he will propose to further increase the tourist tax that these visitors must pay. “We want it to go from four to eight euros,” added the socialist. With the recent approval of the law by the Parliament of Catalonia, the tourist tax was already doubled in Barcelona this year and will progressively increase in the rest of Catalonia, doubling by 2027. Visitors who stay overnight in any tourist accommodation in the Catalan capital from April 1 already pay the new rates.
Currently, the actual tourist tax for travelers whose cruises spend less than twelve hours in the city is between two and four euros per day, and the accompanying municipal surcharge is from four to five euros. If Mayor Collboni gathers the necessary support, the final amount would go from ranging between six and nine euros to at least between ten and thirteen.
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“We are already collecting around one hundred million euros a year, which are being used, among other things, to air-condition schools – Collboni elaborated -. And we are renovating the Fira de Barcelona because what we need is quality tourism. Our goal is to stop tourist overcrowding.”
In this regard, Mayor Collboni recalled that the City Council will eliminate all tourist apartment licenses in Barcelona in 2028, and assured that in this way, besides reducing tourist overcrowding, access conditions to housing will improve. “We are talking about ten thousand apartments that must return to the residential market – he continued -. That is a lot of apartments. We are building around five hundred apartments a year, and our goal for next year is to build one thousand apartments. Our message is that housing is for living, and that Barcelonans have the right to live in the neighborhoods.”
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