Barcelona City Council’s PSC-led municipal government on Wednesday rejected a proposal to raise the city’s tourist-tax surcharge for luxury hotels to €8 per guest a night from 2027. The decision means guests will remain under the existing staged plan, which sets the municipal surcharge at €5 per night from April 2026 and increases it by €1 a year to €8 in 2029.

For visitors and accommodation businesses, the immediate consequence is that the proposed earlier increase will not apply next year. Barcelona en Comú said the faster rise could have brought the council an estimated additional €3.6 million, based on 1.8 million overnight stays.

The municipal surcharge is paid on top of the Generalitat’s Catalan tourist-stay tax. The account of Wednesday’s municipal economic commission was reported by El Periódico.

“It is not serious to break agreements, change, and start a fiscal race,” Deputy Mayor for Tourism Jordi Valls said, referring to the previous agreement to increase the surcharge gradually.

Hostel guests keep a €5 nightly total charge

The council also approved maintaining a lower rate for youth hostels. Their guests will continue to pay a €4 municipal surcharge per night, plus the Generalitat tax of €1, making a total of €5.

That is below the €7 to €12 nightly total currently charged in other types of accommodation, depending on the establishment. Valls said the council would carry out inspections to prevent businesses from presenting themselves falsely as hostels in order to reduce the charge.

  • Municipal surcharge for hostel guests: €4 per night.
  • Generalitat tourist-stay tax for hostels: €1 per night.
  • Total for hostel guests: €5 per night.
  • Other accommodation categories: €7 to €12 per night in total.

According to Barcelona Tourism Observatory data cited at the meeting, 75.16% of hostel guests are aged 18 to 34 and spend less in the city than the average visitor.

September plenary vote still pending

The PSC, Junts and ERC backed the hostel measure. Barcelona en Comú reserved its position until the council plenary session on Friday 25 September, saying its support for the 2027 fiscal ordinances will depend on accepting the €8 surcharge for higher-end hotels from next year.

Councillor Marc Serra of Barcelona en Comú argued that guests paying €600, €800 or €1,000 a night should pay the maximum municipal surcharge sooner. The current fiscal agreement, supported by Barcelona en Comú and ERC, applies the same annual €1 increase across accommodation categories, including tourist apartments.

Reported by elperiodico.com, El Periódico Barcelona.