Bed tax: Where annoying additional costs arise when on vacation

2024-04-06 07:27:42

Germany tourist taxes

Where annoying additional costs arise for holidaymakers

Tourist taxes are becoming common practice not only in Germany, but all over the world. The fees, which are calculated in different ways, are usually reasonable. But sometimes it can also be expensive for vacationers. One country is already rowing back.

Status: 06.04.2024 | Reading time: 4 minutes

Tourists at the Trevi Fountain in Rome: The fees that visitors to the city have to pay depend on the number of stars their hotel has

Quelle: Getty Images/Edwin Remsberg

Tourist tax, tourist tax or bed tax – the fees that a municipality, city or country charges its visitors have many names. These are often taxes that are additionally shown on the hotel bill. Their height is not high enough to deter anyone from staying there, but also not so low that no one would feel them. Especially because the fee is often based on the number of overnight stays, depending on the length of the trip, the fees can add up to a better dinner.

As far as German holiday regions are concerned, the holiday islands in the North Sea clearly stand out negatively with a high guest contribution per day. According to an overview from the travel portal Holidaycheck, five euros are due on Spiekeroog in the high season between March and October. It’s hardly cheaper at 4.90 euros on Norderney. Sylt, on the other hand, is holding back, contrary to expectations. Depending on the taste of the communities, the tourist tax varies between 3.70 and 3.90 euros.

Fees in German cities

However, visits to the republic’s major cities are really expensive. The amount of the tax there often depends not only on the length of stay, but also on the room price. If the hotel in Hamburg costs 200 euros per night, four euros will be charged daily. In Hanover it’s even six euros. After that, the tax increases by one euro for every additional 50 euros in both cities.

Metropolises like Berlin use a different calculation method. Here the taxes are proportional to the hotel price. But that doesn’t necessarily make the fees cheaper. Dortmund and Flensburg are the highest with a levy of 7.5 percent of the hotel price. Berlin, Leipzig and Cologne are content with five percent of the accommodation price.

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The tourist taxes in Bavaria are low. In the spa town of Bad Tölz the corresponding fee is 2.30 euros per adult. On average in Bavarian holiday areas it is no more than two euros. And Munich currently doesn’t charge a tourist fee at all. The state capital and the Bavarian government have been arguing about the so-called overnight stay tax for over ten years. For fear of falling visitor numbers, the Free State of Munich has initially banned the tax.

From the city of Munich you can easily see why the city treasurer would like the tax so much. The fee would bring around 40 million euros into the coffers of the Bavarian capital. This could finance a lot of infrastructure. Because many tourists cause a lot of costs. Hotels, restaurants and travel service providers benefit from visitors, but at the same time they put a strain on the city’s infrastructure. This means that public transport, parks and garbage collection, which are primarily paid for by locals, are under stress.

Bed tax serves various purposes

Tourist taxes are now part of everyday life, not just in Germany; they are levied in many countries. In Rome, for example, the fees depend on the number of stars a hotel has. Ten euros per day is charged in a five-star hotel, five euros in a hotel with one or two stars. In Egypt, the one-off tourist tax of 25 US dollars is not even noticeable because it is often already included in the flight price. In the Balearic Islands, the bed tax is called “Ecotasa” (eco tax) and varies between one and four euros per day, depending on the accommodation.

Bed taxes are not only used to improve tourist infrastructure. In some places money is required to direct tourist flows. Venice is currently experimenting with a fee of five euros for day tourists who visit the old town. They are always required when the city expects a particularly large number of visitors, i.e. on weekends between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Overtourism is also the reason why Lisbon has been charging cruise ships a tax of two euros per passenger since the beginning of the year. “Cruise ship guests flood the city, take advantage of the tourist offerings, sit in the cafés and restaurants, but without consuming much (they have all-inclusive on board),” writes the ADAC on its website. The tourist and nature conservation tax in New Zealand is steeper at a one-off NZD 35 (around 20 euros).

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Bhutan shows how a country can harm itself with extremely high tourism fees. The Himalayan kingdom virtually strangled its travel industry after the pandemic by increasing the daily tax from $65 to $200. According to estimates, the number of visitors halved.

That’s why the country rowed back and linked the “Sustainable Development Fee” (SDF) to the length of the stay. The longer you stay, the cheaper the capitation fee becomes. For example, if you stay four nights, you pay $200 per night and get four tax-free nights. If you stay seven nights, you get seven nights free.

With this drastic reduction, Bhutan managed to reach around 100,000 visitors in 2023. However, two thirds of them were Indian citizens, and they do not need an entry visa and only have to pay around 13 euros in tourist tax per day.