Benidorm no longer wants a tourist tax, what do you think?

It is not the first time that the resort of Benidorm has indicated that it is not in favor of any form of tourist tax. Also this time the municipality informed the regional government that Benidorm does not want a tourist tax or eco-tax. Recently the discussion about a special tax for visitors to the Valencia region, including the popular Costa Blanca, flared up again.

At the moment there are only two places in Spain, namely Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, tourist taxes or, as they call it in the Balearic Islands, an eco-tax. But also in other tourist regions such as the Valencia region, Andalusia, Madrid and the Canary Islands, a form of tourist tax is regularly discussed.

In the Comunidad Valenciana or the Valencia region, the discussion recently started again thanks to the political parties Podemos and Compromis. They believe that tourist tax within Europe is applied in many places and that visitors to the Valencia region would probably not have any problems with that as long as those taxes are also used for purposes that also benefit the tourists.

While the coalition partner Compromis is talking about a tourist tax, the regional prime minister Ximo Puig should not know anything about a tourist tax for the time being. For the PSOE politician, a tourist tax has no priority and is not on the political agenda at all.

But in other regions such as Catalonia where since 2012 a tourist tax has been requested from all tourists (nationally and internationally) and on the Balearic Islands where in 2016 they started asking for an eco-tax, that goes smoothly.

The money that is collected in these two autonomous regions is then to a large extent distributed to the municipalities and islands where they can use the money to set up special projects or implement improvements that will ultimately also benefit the tourists.

What do you think, are you in favor of a tourist tax in Spain? Let us know!

acknowledgment: Spanjevandaag.com