If visiting Amsterdam is part of your travel plans this year, you may want to budget more for accommodations. Tourist tax on traveler’s accommodations at hotels, Airbnbs or guesthouses has been increased in the city.
Starting this month, the Dutch capital city will be charging a fee of €3 ($3.25) for every person staying the night in a hotel as well as the 7% room rate. If you’re staying in an Airbnb, prices will be increased by 10% per night.
Tim Fairhurst, director of policy at the European Tourism Association tells CNN: “It will likely make Amsterdam’s the highest overnight tax in Europe, on average.”
However, Amsterdam isn’t alone in terms of increasing visitor taxes in 2020. If you’re planning to visit Venice, Italy this summer, you’ll have to pay more. According to Lonely Planet, “From 1 July, visitors will pay €10 ($11.22) during peak periods and €3 during off-peak periods.” Those staying overnight already pay tourist taxes.
Although the fees may seem small, they end up adding up to a significant amount for those vacationing for at least a week.
For example, if you and your significant other are in Amsterdam for a week at a hotel that charges €120 a night, you would end up paying €117.60 ($128.30) extra.
“The fact is that numbers are growing — you can’t build a fence around the city and we don’t want that either. Increasing the tax isn’t to affect the number of visitors, but it’s the principle. It costs a lot to keep our city clean and safe, and our infrastructure — like bridges — in a good state,” says Vera Al, spokesperson for Amsterdam’s deputy mayor Groot Wassink to CNN.
There are an estimated 20 million visitors to Amsterdam annually even though there are less than one million residents. The large amount of tourists visiting each year overwhelms the city which has resulted in Amsterdam’s ban on short-term Airbnb rentals in popular neighborhoods. There has also been a ban on shops that sell overpriced souvenirs in the historic center.
Other European cities such as Paris and Rome add flat rate tourist taxes to hotel bills.