Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2025 7:12pm
Hotels and other services were up in arms about that. Valencia government under PSOE introduced one for all tourist accommodation including hotels, campsites, private rentals, hostels and even ship passengers visiting for the day.
One of the first things PP did when voted in was to get rid of it before it was even implemented.
Some areas in the Balearics charge a tourist tax, many places in Italy charge it and hoteliers actually hate it and apologise for having to stick it on your bill.
This is not about making money, it's about making housing available and keeping rents down so locals can actually afford it after being driven out of the main cities due to not being able to afford the rents. Barcelona has seen rents reduce by 4 to 6 percent since introducing similar legislation in quite a short time. OK, the locals probably couldn't afford the high cost of housing but as Spain is traditionally a rental economy then this is designed to help them. A tourist tax, which even the Spanish have to pay, would simply put rentals up.