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More tourist taxes for 2020...

joe

1000+ Posts
This article from TreeHugger relates how tourist taxes will be more commonplace this year.

A statement expressed by someone in the article : "...if you can't afford to tip the server, then you shouldn't be eating out. Travel's not much different."
 
We have been paying a taxe de sejour in France for several years. We stay in self catering accommodation and it was up to the owner of the gite to collect it. It is usually less than a euro per person per day, and varies from department to department, and also with the level of accommodation eg the wheatsheafs for gite de France rentals. Sometimes the owner did not ask for it even when we asked about it.
We have booked our gites for our upcoming trip and for the first time, gites de France has collected the tax when booking. I think I read somewhere that some other providers will be collecting it. I was told that the money goes to the department for tourism promotion.
 
I'm cautiously ok with tourist taxes, preferring the specific such as Cinque Terre's walking fees to cover the upkeep of the paths and the effect of heavy tourism on such a delicately balanced location.

I think there's been a bed tax in Italy for as long as I've been going there, but haven't actually looked at what it is these days.

There are risks: of corruption / mis-use of the funds for other purposes; of the cost of collecting being so inefficient everyone loses; blanket taxes don't address the more pressing issues e.g. colossal cruise ships.

So yes, ok in principle, but the detail does matter.
 
Switzerland has had a per day tourist tax for as long as we have been going there, but you get something for it. It varies by the place, but in Lenk we get a card giving us free mountain buses (but does not include the gondola). Well worth it. The tax is about 2 CHF per day (about €2).
 
Tourist taxes in Italy vary according to the Municipality, some towns don't apply a tax yet, many do, some do only in summer, costs vary. I have never asked my guests to pay the tax to me directly when they arrive as hosts theoretically should do according to the rules. Embarrassing and not a good start to their holiday I feel . So I just pay the tax for them. The amount of bureaucracy involved in the whole procedure is unbelievable and extremely irritating considering the small amounts involved (for me who just rents out a small apartment sometimes). Tax me but don't torture me is my comment...
 
Tourist taxes in Italy vary according to the Municipality, some towns don't apply a tax yet, many do, some do only in summer, costs vary. I have never asked my guests to pay the tax to me directly when they arrive as hosts theoretically should do according to the rules. Embarrassing and not a good start to their holiday I feel . So I just pay the tax for them. The amount of bureaucracy involved in the whole procedure is unbelievable and extremely irritating considering the small amounts involved (for me who just rents out a small apartment sometimes). Tax me but don't torture me is my comment...
Sorry to go off topic, but I feel the same way about the "cleaning fee" - just roll it into the rental price!
 
It's funny, we visited Civita di Bagnoregio 8 years ago and you could park for free right under the foot bridge leading to the town and then walk the foot bridge to the town. We went there this past December. You couldn't park under the foot bridge any more and had to pay at a parking lot further away. Then when you get to the foot bridge they turn you away to a ticket booth where you pay 5 euros to walk the bridge.

It's a sign of the times! :)
 

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