2024-09-04 15:44:32
Tourism is a very controversial topic in Italy. While tourism is worrying in Venice, Florence and Cinque Terre, Meloni’s government plans to significantly increase the tourist tax to “make them more sustainable” and fill the coffers of the areas.
According to a decree circulated during the summer, the tourist tax, currently 5 euros, can be increased to 10 euros per night for rooms costing 100 euros, to 15 euros for those that cost 400 euros and to 25 euros for luxury suites over 750 euros.
This project has provoked the anger of the federations of tourism, who fear that the large increases will hinder the enthusiasm of tourists for Italy “Let us not scare tourists with high taxes the most,” said Marina Lalli, President of the Federal Federation of Travel Professionals. “We already have a very high VAT, of 22%, if we add extras, we risk damaging the competitiveness of Italy, especially for organized tours all of which are calculated to the nearest Euro,” he told AFP.
“Tax increase is just a myth”
Without rejecting these projects, Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè opposed on Saturday “unfounded alarm about the increase in the tourist tax”. “In a time of overtourism”, Rome wants tax tourists to “really contribute to the improvements of the services and the figures of tourists who pay”, he argued on X at the beginning of March.
“Increasing taxes will be usurious. If it is confirmed, I will go to other countries that do not use such a tax,” Fabea Wiegand, a student who came to visit Milan for a trip, told AFP. Liam Roth, another Swiss tourist, is of the opposite opinion. “The tax increase is a good measure, I understand that the citizens of Milan are bothered by tourists. We are part of the problem. “
“Nothing has been decided. At this stage, the increase in taxes is only a myth,” interviews are pending with private organizations and communities, company sources assured AFP.
Initiatives against tourism are increasing
Faced with the volume of tourists arriving in Italy, very famous for its rich cultural heritage and fine sandy beaches, initiatives are increasing to control the flow, without much success. Tourists continue to clog the narrow streets and bridges that surround the rivers of Venice, despite the five euro entry fee that day visitors have had to pay since April.
The same goes for the famous “trail of love”, winding between land and sea in the Cinque Terre park, which reopened in July after long works.
In Italy, the tourist tax can be extended to all 7,904 Italian municipalities instead of only tourist towns and also allocated to waste management. This tax brings us close to 775 euros in 2023.
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