(Milan) Overtourism in Italy, a cause for concern in Venice, Florence and the Cinque Terre, risks costing travellers dearly: the Meloni government is considering significantly increasing the tourist tax to “make them more responsible” and replenish the coffers of the municipalities.
According to a draft decree that circulated in the middle of the summer torpor, the tourist tax, currently around 5 euros, could increase to 10 euros per night for rooms costing 100 euros, to 15 euros for those costing 400 euros and to 25 euros for luxury suites costing more than 750 euros.
The project has sparked anger among tourism federations, who fear that excessive increases will dampen tourist enthusiasm for the “Bel Paese”.
“Let’s not scare away tourists with taxes that are too high!” pleaded Marina Lalli, president of the federation of tourism professionals Federturismo.
“We already have a very high VAT rate of 22%, if we add surcharges we risk harming Italy’s competitiveness, especially for all-inclusive package tours which are calculated to the nearest euro,” she told AFP.
Hotels refuse to continue to serve as “cash machines” for municipalities, warned Bernarbo Bocca, president of Federalberghi, the federation of Italian hoteliers, in May.
Without denying these plans, the Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanchè denounced on Saturday “unfounded alarmism about the increase in the tourist tax”.
“In a period of overtourism,” Rome hopes that the tourist tax “will really contribute to improving services and making tourists who pay it more responsible,” she argued on X at the beginning of August.
“Wear and tear!”
The fourth largest destination in the world, Italy welcomed 57.2 million foreign tourists last year who spent 55.9 billion dollars, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
On the forecourt of the Duomo, Milan’s majestic cathedral, tourists jostle to take selfies, amid a flock of pigeons. Opinions differ on a possible increase in the incriminated tax.
“Raising the tax would be usury! If it were confirmed, I would go to other countries that do not apply such a tax,” exclaimed Fabea Wiegand, 25, an economics student from St. Gallen in Switzerland.
Liam Roth, a 25-year-old computer science student from Zurich, disagrees. “Raising the tax is a good measure, I understand that the Milanese are bothered by tourists. We are part of the problem.”
“Nothing has been decided. At this stage, the increase in the tax is only a hypothesis,” pending consultations with sector organizations and municipalities, sources from the ministry assured AFP.
A wave of tourists
Faced with the wave of tourists arriving in Italy, highly prized for its rich cultural heritage and fine sandy beaches, initiatives are multiplying to regulate the flow, without much success.
Tourists continue to crowd the narrow streets and bridges spanning the canals of Venice, despite the five euro entrance fee that day visitors have had to pay since April.
The famous “path of love” winding between land and sea in the Cinque Terre park reopened in July after extensive renovations, but visitors will now have to pay five euros.
“Tourists go home!”: on the bridges of Florence, the capital of Tuscany renowned for its Renaissance architecture, the same graffiti now flourishes as in Barcelona in Spain, a hotbed of anti-tourist discontent.
Residents’ concerns include noise pollution, pollution, traffic congestion and soaring rents from tourist rentals.
In Italy, the tourist tax could be extended to all 7,904 Italian municipalities instead of just tourist towns and also allocated to waste management. This tax brought in nearly 775 million euros in 2023.