Barcelona’s Mayor has said he plans to ‘substantially’ increase the tax for cruise ship passengers visiting the city for less than 12 hours.
The current tourist tax for cruise stopover passengers is €7 a head. Mayor Jaume Collboni told the Spanish El Pais newspaper he plans to ‘substantially’ increase this fee, but did not say by how much.
“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,” he said. “We want to have tourism that is respectful of the destination.”
The proposal to increase the tax will need be agreed with the Catalan regional government.
Barcelona is one of the busiest ports in Europe and regularly receives up to five ships a day. Next Sunday (28 July) for example, Oasis of the Seas, Viking Jupiter, Wind Surf, Scarlet Lady and Costa Smeralda are due in port.
The Mayor’s proposal to charge cruise passengers more to visit the city follow plans announced last month to ban short-term rentals for tourists by 2029.
The ban would mean the licences for 10,101 apartments that currently offer short-term rentals would not be renewed after November 2028.