The self-serving greed of the Algarve’s Council mayors has found expression in today’s vote to introduce a per night tourist tax on visitors to the region, just at a time when competing destinations are regaining strength in the market.
A tourist tax of €1.50 per night will be extracted between March and October with mayors’ group AMAL estimating that this will generate revenues of €20 million per year which they claim will be spent on local projects.
AMAL’s chairman, Jorge Botelho, said the tax will not impact demand, a view at odds with the region’s hoteliers who will be charged with hiking booking process, collecting the revenue and dealing with complaints.
Botelho’s justification is deliberately naive, "The introduction of the tourist tax is intended in some way to make the tourist pay part of the costs that the municipalities bear during their stay," despite his intention to spend the tax on 'community projects.'
The €1.50 per head per night tax will be payable only during the first seven days of a holiday by anyone over 12-years-old.
The one sane voice in the room, the Silves mayor, Rosa Palma, considered the measure to be a "hoax" that creates inequality and will be counterproductive. Faro’s Bacalhau wanted to go for €2 per night and make the tax an all-year-round affair.
The tourist tax now has to be voted on by each Council Assembly with Vila Real de Santo António already committed to levying the tax as part of its desperate effort to get out of crippling debt after years of mismanagement, not with a view to spend the money on a vague catch-all programme of ‘community projects.’
Hotels will charge the fee and collect the money, passing it on to AMAL and their local Councils.
AMAL mentioned wonderful projects such as the Ecovia and the Via Algarviana, which cross several municipalities, failing to note that they are meant to be paying for these anyway.
The nonsense continued with justifications embracing culture, fixing up heritage rehabilitation buildings and paying for 'promotion activities.'
Alojamento Local properties will be taxed with the illegal rentals market delighted that yet another reason has been given for tourists to ‘go private’.
AMAL wants the tax to start next March but it is unlikely that all councils will be in a position to do so, thus creating more inequality between the Algarve’s council areas.
The record of Councils spending money on intended purposes is poor. Devious accounting, the diversion of funds from one area to another and the announcement of projects that never get built, or fail to be maintained, are all too common. This tourist tax is poorly thought through, greedy, opportunistic and ultimately just another on-cost for hotels to carry in the headline prices, putting the region at a disadvantage compared to competing destinations.
