It is the highest value that the country’s municipalities have ever introduced with the tourist tax. Between January and June, the tax on overnight stays in tourist accommodations in the country generated municipal councils a turnover of 30 million euros, i.e. 47% more compared to the first half of last year, according to a study by Dinheiro Leven. This was also the first time that sales in the first half year surpassed pre-pandemic numbers, up 38% compared to the first six months of 2019.
The year is again marked by records in tourism, with the main indicators achieving historic results. In the first half of 2023, Portugal received 13.6 million guests (+21%) and registered 34 million overnight stays (+18.8%). Compared to 2019, the number of guests and overnight stays are up 11%, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). In this way, with more tourists and more overnight stays, the activity account for the first half already indicated the good performance of revenues, also for the municipalities.
The list of municipalities that apply the tourist tax also grew this year. In addition to Braga, Cascais, Faro, Lisbon, Mafra, Óbidos, Porto, Santa Cruz (Madeira), Sintra, Vila Nova de Gaia and Vila Real de Santo António, Póvoa de Varzim started applying the tourist tax on January 1. 5 euros per night, as well as Coimbra, which has been charging 1 euro per night since April 5. In Figueira da Foz, the levy of two euros per night came into effect in July and Olhão started taxing the same amount in June.
In an analysis of the national card, Lisbon, which has been taxing overnight stays since 2016, was the champion of revenues collected with €18.5 million, an increase of 43% compared to 2022 and 24% compared to the pre-pandemic period. Carlos Moedas recently admitted in a podcast by SIC and Expresso that he wants to increase the fee for tourists staying overnight in the capital. The Lisbon City Council did not want to give further details to Dinheiro Vivo about whether and when the rate update will take place and for what amounts.
Porto, which has applied a tourist tax of two euros since 2018, ranks second in the table with the highest revenues. The municipal council led by Rui Moreira recorded a turnover of eight million euros, 52% more than in the first half of 2022 and 24% more than in 2019.
Cascais, which introduced the tourist tax in 2017, reached the €1 million threshold for the first time in the first half of the year, an 11% year-on-year increase and 37% compared to the pre-pandemic period. The most modest sales growth was registered in the south of the country, in Faro, with an increase of 4% compared to 2022, to 524 thousand euros.
Even further north is Vila Nova de Gaia, with a 233% growth in revenue from the tourist tax, to 845 thousand euros.
Sintra collected 637 thousand euros, with which it made up for the lost turnover last year. Due to the pandemic, the municipality, which had suspended the levy at the time, did not reapply the tax until July 2022. In March, the municipality continued to update the tourist tax to two euros.
More and more municipalities are levying taxes
The list of municipalities that will tax tourist accommodation has already grown this year and should continue to grow. Coimbra is one example and in April started charging overnight stays of one euro per night in all tourist developments and local accommodation establishments in the geographical area of the municipality, up to a maximum of three consecutive nights. The fee applies to guests aged 16 years or older and only applies between the months of March and October. In these three months, between April and June, the Chamber raised 219,254 euros.
“The compensation will allow the municipality to bear the costs related to the increase in the presence of tourists in the city and the amount received will be fully reinvested in the improvement, implementation and attractiveness of tourism in the city of Coimbra,” explains the out of town. board director to Dinheiro Vivo.
The list of exemptions excludes national and foreign students who enroll in higher education in the city from paying the tax, “as well as research fellows who use tourist resorts and AL branches at the beginning of each academic year, up to a maximum of 60 consecutive years.days.
Coimbra joined Póvoa de Varzim and Figueira da Foz. The municipality of Viana do Castelo had also already made progress with the intention of applying the tourist tax this year, at the rate of 1.5 euros per night, but recently the president of the municipality Luís Nobre admitted that the decision will not be made until December to be implemented, as the regulation still has to be voted on. The Intermunicipal Community of the Algarve (AMAL) also wants to charge two euros per night in the municipalities in the region, an amount that is halved in the low season.
Rute Simão is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
