A Spanish city where angry locals fired water pistols at tourists is introducing a new charge for visitors.
Tourists visiting Barcelona are currently hit with two taxes – a regional charge and a city tax. The city tax is set to rise from £2.74, having already been increased last year.
Soon visitors will have to spend £3.37 a day on an overnight charge for up to a week’s stay, starting in October.
This combined with the regional charge, which is based on the type of accommodation, could see some tourists paying as much as £6.30 nightly, and just under £50 for a seven-night stay.
Visitors staying in four-star hotels pay £1.43 a night in regional charges, while those in five-star hotels and short-term rentals are coughing up £2.95 a night, according to BirminghamLive.
The city has said the additional intake will be used to improve services such as buses, roads and escalators.
Deputy Mayor Jaume Collboni declared Barcelona wants to encourage “quality tourism which adds value to the city” instead of mass tourism.
This comes after tourists sat outside restaurants were sprayed with water guns by angry anti-tourism protestors.
Thousands marched through the city in a July protest, telling visitors to “go home”. One sign read “Dear Tourist: Balconing is Fun!” – seemingly mocking those who have lost their lives falling from balconies while on holiday.
The protestors also placed cordon tape around restaurants, with some of the visitors eating outside deciding to shout back at demonstrators.
Locals carried signs that read ‘Barcelona is not for sale’ and chanted ‘tourists out of our neighbourhood’ at people as they stopped in front of the hotel entrances.
Barcelona’s rising cost of housing – up 68 percent in the past decade – is one of the main issues for the movement, along with the effects of tourism on local commerce and working conditions.
The city’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced a plan in June to phase out all short-term lets by 2028, an unexpected move by the authorities who seek to rein in soaring housing costs and make the city liveable for residents.
