€2 to be collected consistently between April and October
Olhão deserves soon the 3rd municipality to charge a tourist tax in the Algarve.
The district will rate € 2 in line with the afternoon high season (April to October) and € 1 the rest of the year (November to March).
The measure is to generate around 300,000 euros consistent with the year for the municipality, said Olhão Mayor António Pina.
“The tourist tax is a contribution that tourists leave to minimize their impact,” Pina told the Lusa news agency.
The measure was approved by Olhão’s council in April and is expected to be published very soon in the state-run newspaper Diário da República, after which it will begin to be impeached.
Olhão will follow in the footsteps of Faro and Vila Real de Santo António, the municipalities of the Algarve that already charge a tourist tax.
In Oálhão, the tax will be charged up to a maximum of five nights, which means that the tourist will pay a maximum of € 10 (in high season) or € 5 (in low season). Children under the age of 16 will be exempt. .
As explained by Mayor Pina, the exemption was based on the profile of tourists visiting the commune, the maximum of which are families with children.
Half of the revenue from the tourist tax will be used to “minimize the effects of tourist pressure, in terms of cleanliness and increased security,” Pina said.
He added that the City Council is also “available” to allocate 10% of the profit to tourism promotion projects in the Algarve and another 10% to projects carried out through AMAL, which represents the 16 municipalities in the region.
The first district to introduce a tourist tax in the Algarve Vila Real de Santo António in 2018.
The objective of the tax, levied the year, was to help cover “the maintenance of municipal facilities and infrastructures for tourists and residents, such as the sports complex”, and contribute to the financing of “the participation of the municipality in foreign fairs”.
In VRSA € 1 per day is charged up to a maximum of seven days in tourist establishments such as hotels, resorts, tourist apartments, rural hotels and local accommodation, and 50 cents per day in campsites and motorhome areas.
A tourist tax was introduced in Faro in 2019, but was suspended some time later due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It took over in 2022, and the municipality charges tourists €1. 5 per night between March and October up to a maximum of seven nights per night. with stay. Children under the age of thirteen are exempt.
By Michel Bruxo
[email protected]
June 1, 2023 Edition