Never before have the municipalities in the country collected such a high amount of tourist tax. In the first four months of this year alone, municipal authorities collected 21.4 million euros from the tax on overnight stays in tourist accommodations, according to a study by Dinheiro Vivo. This record represents an increase of 61% compared to the first quarter of 2022 and 48% compared to the same pre-pandemic period.
If records were made for tourism last year, the outlook indicates that in 2023 the bills will continue to add up. The year started strong in the country’s tourist accommodation, with 12.6 million overnight stays in the first quarter, a growth of 41% from 2022 and 14% from 2019, according to data available through March by the National Institute for Statistics.
To the 11 municipalities that already charged municipal tourist tax in 2022 – Braga, Cascais, Faro, Lisbon, Mafra, Óbidos, Porto, Santa Cruz (Madeira), Sintra, Vila Nova de Gaia and Vila Real de Santo António – this Póvoa de Varzim, which started taxing EUR 1.5 per night in January, and Coimbra, which started applying the EUR 1 per night tax on April 5. Figueira da Foz, Olhão and Viana do Castelo should be the next municipalities to implement the measure.
At the top of the national ranking, with the highest revenues until April, is Lisbon, which received 13.6 million euros, an increase of 32% compared to last year and a further 60% compared to 2019. Most of ( 56% of this tax, levied at 2 euros per night, comes from Alojamento Local (17%) and Airbnb (39%), with tourist resorts accounting for 44%.
Having achieved a turnover of 33 million euros in 2022, the municipality is optimistic about the coming months and believes World Youth Day will boost the numbers. “Given the increase in tourists in Lisbon and the events planned for this year 2023, everything points to a trend towards an increase in billed income,” said Carlos Moedas’s office.
Porto, which has been applying the tourist tax at 2 euros per night since 2018, occupies second place in the table with a turnover of 5.8 million euros, 57% above 2022 and 66% more than 2019. to Airbnb they gave the municipality 2.5 million euros and AL 1.8 million euros. The tourism developments, on the other hand, contributed 1.5 million euros to the coffers of the chamber led by Rui Moreira.
In Vila Nova de Gaia, revenues also increased compared to 2022 (+9%) to a total of 305 thousand euros. The municipality charges 1 euro per night between October and March and 2 euros between April and September.
To close the North reading, Braga ended April with almost 35 thousand euros in tourist taxes, mainly from hotels (86%, against 14% in AL).
The strength of tourism in the first months of the year also had a positive impact on Cascais, which posted a turnover of almost 630 thousand euros, a result 57% higher than in 2022. After closing the accounts for 2022 with 2.7 million euros collected with the tourist tax is the goal to reach 2.9 million euros this year. Sintra, which expects to generate income in 2022 from the tourist tax of half a million euros, received 180,000 euros in the reporting period.
In Mafra, overnight stays are taxed at 1 euro in the high season and 2 euros in the low season, which brought the municipality nearly 50 thousand euros (+24%) until April. Last year, 844,000 euros were charged to tourists who stayed overnight in the municipality and the municipal budget for this year makes a modest forecast of a turnover of 644,000 euros, which should be amply exceeded given the growth trend.
In the south of the country, Faro, which started levying a tourist tax in 2022, saw revenues rise by 5% to 220,000 euros. Óbidos also only introduced the tourist tax for the first time last year, after receiving €39,000 (+14%) from tourist accommodation between January and April.
Finally, Santa Cruz in Madeira is the only municipality that taxes overnight stays. The municipality changed the tax rules and increased the municipal tourist ecotax from 1 to 2 euros, increased the number of days charged from five to seven and lowered the minimum age to charge from 18 to 13 years. Accounts drawn up, Santa Cruz has already raised 592 thousand euros more in just four months than in the year 2022 (517 thousand euros). The municipality of Madeira expects to close 2023 with a total turnover of more than one million euros. The municipalities of Vila Real de Santo António, Póvoa de Varzim and Coimbra have contacted and have not responded in time.
Rute Simão is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
