Barcelona to raise tourist coach charges from €20 to €80

Barcelona's city council is set to approve a measure to increase the surcharge paid by tourist coaches.

If approved, buses arriving in the Catalan capital from other cities for day trips will be charged €80 per day, instead of the current €20.

"Today, a tourist who stays overnight in Barcelona pays €7, while one who visits the city for a day pays only €0.50, despite making intensive use of public space," said the city's economy councillor Jordi Valls when presenting the measure on Tuesday.

Currently, the city receives €1 million a year from the surcharge, but with the increase it could receive up to €4 million.

However, the economy councillor argued that the primary aim of the measure is not to generate revenue, as it is a public fee and not a tax.

Instead, the aim is to "discourage" the use of tourist coaches and encourage the use of public transport.

In 2023, there were more than 156,000 tourist coach operations in the city. With the new model, it is estimated that the number of coaches circulating in the city will be reduced to 70,000 a year.

In addition, the city council is considering reducing the number of parking spaces for coaches in the city center to reduce congestion.

Barcelona's plan to reduce tourism

The measure is part of the government's new Tourism Management Plan, which includes other measures to "reduce the negative impacts" of tourism.

The package of measures, with a budget of €254 million until 2027, aims to "decentralize and diversify the tourist offer and reduce congestion in gentrified areas."

Since coming to power, the Socialist city government has advocated a focus on "quality tourism" related to business, culture and sports.

"We want quality tourism, but that doesn't mean high-income tourism. What we want to combat is uncivic tourism," the economy councilor said.

Valls explained that Barcelona cannot leave the market to regulate itself, and that the city council must provide incentives to cope with the high demand from tourists.

The economy councillor has urged the private sector to cooperate with the city council, despite reservations.

Dispute over removal of holiday flats

On Monday, the tourist apartment sector in Barcelona lodged compensation claims with the Catalan government totaling €1 billion in response to the mayor of Barcelona's plans to remove all 10,101 holiday flats in the city by November 2028.   

In response to the news, Valls said the figure did not reflect the true value of the business. "But if it does, it only underlines the need for regulation," he said. 

"We are not expropriating these homes. The owners can continue to use them as their primary residence, for their families, or they can rent them out on the long-term rental market," he added.

Valls also said that holiday flats "create a problem of coexistence and contribute to conflicts in the housing market." While they are not the sole cause of the housing crisis, he said, they "exacerbate the problem."