Several destinations around the world are announcing increases, or planned increases, to the taxes charged for cruise passengers.
Increased fees are due to a variety of reasons, with New Zealand’s hike seemingly just due to increased costs of hosting cruise passengers.
However, Barcelona and Venice are raising a tourism tax that specifically targets those visiting the destinations for 12 hours or less – with cruise passengers being the prime targets.
Those increases are designed to manage the impact that short-term tourists have on the cities, “protecting the quality of life” of those who permanently live in the cities, and making sure that cruise guests are contributing “fairly” to the economy.
New Zealand’s fee increases are border processing fees, and the proposed increase could come into effect from 1st December 2024.
This is problematic for cruise lines that may have many guests booked onto an itinerary already well beyond this date – if they have paid their fees and taxes then the cruise line won’t be able to pass on the higher fees to customers and will have to absorb the 88% price hike themselves.
The New Zealand Cruise Association and the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) have criticised the plans.
Barcelona currently charges a €7 per passenger, per day fee for cruise guests visiting the city, though the plans seem to be to increase this by a significant amount – though the exact proposal isn’t public.
Venice’s is – the intention is to double the current €5 fee to €10 for cruise passengers.
Several destinations are looking to make changes due to the impact of cruise ships, with Amsterdam seeking to relocate the cruise terminal further from the city centre.
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