Barcelona will raise the tourist tax for cruise passengers visiting the city for less than 12 hours, mayor Jaume Collboni said in an interview at the weekend.
The current cruise passenger tax is €7 per day.
Athough the mayor has said how much it would be increased, he hinted it would be ‘substantially.’
The fee is valid for stopover cruise passengers on scheduled visits of less than 12 hours.
“In the case of short port calls, there is intensive use of public space without any benefit for the city,” he told El Pais newspaper.
“We want to have tourism that is respectful of the destination.”
The mayor has been a vocal critic of the cruise industry.
Collboni said a fee increase would first have to be ratified by the Catalan regional government.
The city has seen overtourism protests which have targeted cruise ship passengers.
Other demonstrations have taken place in the Balearic and Canary Islands against general overtourism, especially the millions of package holidaymakers who come each year.
Another protest is planned in Palma de Mallorca, the capital of the largest Balearic Island on Sunday evening.
The Barcelona mayor recently announced the city will outlaw all short term apartment rentals in the future due to the negative impact on affordable housing.
