Hello everyone,
Before any tour operator will get the official documentation from Italy and will let you know, is going to take ages. Following the new budget 2007 that the Italian Government has approved few days ago I have decided to post the first information on what is going to happen from next year in Italy.
The government has approved a new Tourist tax or Bed Tax that every tourist visiting Italy will have to pay. The cost of the tax is between 2 to 5 euros per person per day, apparently payable to the hotel ( same as it happened to the Balearic Eco Tax ). The cost of the tax is based on the sort of resort you will be visiting. This will mean that high traffic destinations such as Rome, Venice, or any large tourist resort will charge the 5 euros per person per day. For a 2 weeks family holiday this will result in an extra 280 euros.
The Italian Travel Industry is to say the least speechless as of course the government does not consult whoever will be effected by the result of its own WRONG decision. At the moment the information on what will exactly happen are really vague..they do not even know if the tax will be charged during the full year or only during peak season. Being Italian myself I have tried to look for more detailed information but this is the best I could get for the time being.
As soon as I will find new information I will keep posting. For the time being it is not even necessary to refer to the Italian State Tourist Board as they will not know that much.
Please take the 5 euros per person per day into account for your summer 07 holiday as this is the likely cost you may face .
It will be interesting to see how long this measure takes to bring into force.
This could be a big mistake for the Italian tourist industry in my opinion, didn't they end up scrapping the Spanish one in the end?
The answer to your balearic eco-tax query is yes. Was approved on April 2001 and the hotels had to start collecting the tax from May 2002. The result was a dramatic drop in bookings and if you consider that the charges were between 70 p to 1 pound per person per night and based on the star rating of the accomodation then it will be easy to imagine what the results will be in Italy with the sort of charges they will be applying on Foreign Tourist only. The Balearic eco-tax was scrapped at the end of October 2003 and technically speaking it should have been refunded to tourists that had paid it ( at least this is what they were saying at the time!!! ). This new tax in Italy will be effective from 2007 and it is going to give lots of headaches to quite a lot of tour operators. Being an issue beyond the Tour Operators control customers will not be allowed to cancel free of charge and this is the reson why I decided to post this information as soon as possible. I am simply ashamed of what the Italian Government has done mostly because they have run out of money and are using these dirty tricks to compensate their own incapacity. In the UK there are lots of talks about the Bed Tax as well but at least the government is in consultation with the majority of the people that will be affected by this change if it will take place.
Now they are thinking to apply some amendment. The mojority of the region want to fight the government as well.
Just out on the italian news. The government has scrapped the tourist tax. The full budget will have to be approved by December 31st so I will be checking just in case they will be thinking to something else.
Thanks for keep us up to date MOS and what a result, looks like Venice could be back on the cards for next year.
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