Funchal City Council of Portugal has implemented a new tax on cruise ships. This tax will be implemented from 1 January 2025 for 2 Euros per each cruise customer. It will be imposed on passengers who are entering the capital of Madeira.
New Tourist Tax On Cruise Imposed
It is communicated to all the cruise passengers that a new tax will be applied to them from next year. The Mayor of Funchal, Cristina Pedra, stated that the tax will have the same value as that which was applied from 1 October 2024. It was clearly stated to tourists that the tax would be charged on overnight stays in hotels or motels in the country.
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Cristina has signed a protocol with the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). This protocol allows all the citizens to provide planting efforts within the Madeira. These plants will be placed in the Funchal Ecological Park. She stated her commitment to imposing the taxes while signing this protocol. The mayor stated:
For now, we will apply two euros per night and per guest to hotels and local accommodation, from 1 October this year. And there was a commitment with CLIA, which we honored because we are people who honor our commitments, to apply the same tourist tax rate, from 1 January 2025.
Taxes Imposed To Control Rise In Tourism Cost
The tourism cost in the country has been increasing for a while. This has put pressure on tourism on the Government. Funchal has around 115,000 citizens and it receives around 100,000 tourists every single day. This made it difficult to deal with all these tourists regularly. This is why the mayor of Funchal decided to impose tourism taxes on the Cruise as well. She stated:
The increase in costs of tourism itself and the pressure of tourism. More than 50 thousand people live between Ribeira Brava and Santa Cruz and who come to Funchal for work or business reasons.
A lot of pressure is put on the Government by some people who come to Funchal for their work. It is estimated that more than 50,000 people travel daily to Funchal for their business and their jobs. These people live between the Ribeira Brava and the Santa Cruz which makes traveling to Funchal quite convenient.
Other European Countries Charge More Tourist Tax
The Government of Portugal has been facing the problem of tourists for a while. A lot of people choose Portugal as their holiday destination, especially during the summers and winters. The Mayor of Funchal feels that there is a lot of pressure on Funchal at the moment. She believes that the two Euros charged per night or for one cruise passenger is still very low. If you compare this cost to other European countries, it will come out to be much lower. Cristina stated:
This [tourism] is putting enormous pressure on Funchal. [2 Euros Tourist tax is] much lower than in some areas of the country and, certainly, in Europe.
Vice President of the ports at CLIA Europe, Nikos Mertzadinis has appreciated the agreement with the Funchal government. He believes that this issue should be solved sooner rather than later, and the Government is supporting it in this manner. He also stated:
The destinations must be in excellent condition and the residents must be satisfied in order to receive cruise passengers.
Nikos believes that this agreement will be the start of the commitment shown between the cruise companies and the government. He wants an environmentally and socially sustainable future for Madeira. This can only be possible by the cooperation of cruise companies with the government of Madeira.
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