Agreement to raise the tourist tax for cruise ships calling in Barcelona up to 30 euros

BarcelonaThe PSC, Esquerra and Comuns have reached an agreement to increase the tourist tax for cruise ships calling at Barcelona. Through an amendment to the Generalitat's budget accompanying law, submitted this Tuesday to Parliament, the three groups will force an increase in the tax to 30 euros for ships that stay less than 12 hours in the Catalan capital.

The change lifts the limit of 8 euros that the City Council had until now to increase the part it collects from the tax, and comes after this was requested by both the municipal government of Jaume Collboni and the Esquerra and Barcelona en Comú groups in the council. In an interview with ARA in May, in fact, the socialist mayor advocated for "tripling the maximum of 8 euros that currently allows us, up to 24 euros per day".

The agreement fulfills this demand, to which the 6 euros collected by the Generalitat will have to be added, which will raise the amount that short-stay cruise passengers will have to pay to 30 euros. "What is wanted is to have a visitor who has an economic impact on the city," explained the Government spokesperson, Sílvia Paneque, who admitted that the agreement stems from the request of the municipal groups.

The parliamentary spokesperson for Comuns, David Cid, championed the understanding at a press conference in Parliament, from where he recalled that the cruise ships that call are those that have "the most impact" in Barcelona, those that "generate the most unrest at a neighborhood level" and that, moreover, "have practically zero return to the city".

"Barcelona is not a souvenirin the coming years this type of offer will not existAwaiting the next moves of the municipal government, Collboni's stated objective with the increase in the amount for short-stay cruises is that in the coming years this type of offer will not exist in the city and that only vessels that have the Catalan capital as their home port will dock at the port of Barcelona.