Mayor of Barcelona wants quality tourism instead of mass tourism and plans to
- quickly double Barcelona’s tourist tax on cruise travelers from 4€ to 8€ per day
- limit maximum number of cruise passengers per day to 31,000 which is still over maximum port capacity of 24,000
- allow only cruise ships which start or end a cruise in Barcelona
- eliminate prolongation of tourist apartment permissions from 2028 on
Background info:
- 850 cruise ships called at the Mediterranean city last year
- according to estimates, they emitted roughly twice as many pollutants into the air as the city of Sabadell (population: 220,000)
- while day visitors spend only 60 to 70 Euro, passengers who book a hotel room in the city at the beginning or end of their cruise spend 230 Euro there
Sources:
https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/barcelona-is-cracking-down-on-cruise-tourism-with-increased-tax
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/spanien-barcelona-kreuzfahrtschiffe-100.html