The Barcelona City Council has set itself the goal of eradicating cruise visits that only stop for a few hours in the city. To achieve this, the municipal strategy is based on a strong fiscal increase and a reduction of available infrastructure, prioritizing the port to function exclusively as a starting or ending point of a journey (home port).
Barcelona will increase the tourist tax, as, from 2027, passengers who stay less than twelve hours in the capital will pay 8 euros tax, double the current amount.
Furthermore, it plans to dismantle infrastructure to go from the current seven terminals to only five, thus restricting the number of ships that can dock simultaneously.
What's more, Mayor Jaume Collboni has expressed his intention to request the elimination of the legal cap of 8 euros in order to further increase taxes for transit cruise passengers in the future.
"My goal is to reduce cruise calls in the city of Barcelona to zero in the coming years," stated Jaume Collboni, emphasizing that this tourism model does not involve overnight stays but does generate significant spending on public services.
The funds obtained through this tax increase will be allocated to mitigate the impact of mass tourism, investing in the maintenance of areas with the highest visitor pressure and improving the well-being of residents in the most saturated districts.
This measure comes after a 2025 of record activity, in which the port of Barcelona reaffirmed its hegemony in Spain with 832 calls and a movement of almost 3.9 million cruise passengers, figures that the City Council considers unsustainable under the current model.
Add La Voz de Lanzarote as a preferred Google source.
Stay informed with the latest current news.