25 levies · measured September 30, 2026
Tourist Taxes Worldwide
Almost every roundup of tourist taxes is assembled from other roundups — which is how a rate that changed in January is still being quoted in December, and how a hotel’s own resort fee ends up listed as a municipal tax.
This one was built from the levying authorities. Every row names the body that imposes the charge, links to it, and says how well we were able to evidence it — because on a page whose whole claim is that we checked, a row we could not check has to say so. What survived the three gates is below. What didn’t is at the foot of the page, each with the reason it was cut.
Short answer Bhutan levies the steepest per-night visitor charge we can evidence, at USD 100 per person per night. Kyoto is next (¥10,000 per person per night on rooms at ¥100,000 or more; ¥1,000 on rooms at ¥20,000–¥49,999), then Amsterdam (12.5% of the room price excluding VAT). Per-night levies and one-off arrival charges are listed separately because they are not comparable — the largest arrival charge here is New Zealand's NZ$100 once, paid with the NZeTA application. A levy qualifies only if a public authority imposes it, it targets visitors, and it was in force on September 30, 2026.
Tourist taxes in numbers
- 25 Levies tracked
- 18 Countries
- €92 Highest per night
- 6 Screened out
How a levy qualifies
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Gate 1
Statutory, or it is not a tax
A public authority has to impose it. A resort fee is a charge the hotel sets and keeps — it behaves like a tourist tax on the bill and is nothing like one in law, so every resort-fee destination is cut and named below.
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Gate 2
Aimed at the visitor
VAT, general sales tax and air passenger duty all fall on residents as readily as on tourists. Including them would put every country on this page and tell you nothing. What counts is a levy a jurisdiction raises because you are visiting.
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Gate 3
Doubt counts against
Where a rate had plainly changed but the authority’s own tariff could not be read on September 30, 2026, we cut the row rather than print a guess. Milan is missing for exactly that reason — and it is named in the cuts rather than quietly dropped.
Charged per night
18 levies, highest first.
- 1
Bhutan
BhutanUSD 100 per person per night≈ €92.00 normalisedThe Sustainable Development Fee is in a category of its own — an order of magnitude above any city tax, and deliberately so. It is the policy instrument behind Bhutan's low-volume tourism model, not a revenue top-up. Halved from USD 200 in 2023 and held at USD 100 through 31 August 2027.
- 2
Kyoto
Japan¥10,000 per person per night on rooms at ¥100,000 or more; ¥1,000 on rooms at ¥20,000–¥49,999≈ €61.00 normalisedThe steepest accommodation levy on this list at the top of its schedule, and a tenfold rise on the previous ceiling. It is sharply progressive by design: a ¥15,000 room is barely touched, a ¥100,000 suite carries ¥10,000 a night. Most visitors will never meet the top band.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Kyoto.
- 3
Amsterdam
Netherlands12.5% of the room price excluding VAT≈ €18.75 normalisedThe highest percentage rate in Europe, and it is levied per room rather than per person — so a couple sharing pays once, not twice. The city's coalition agreement raises it to 16% from 2027, which would extend a lead that is already wide.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Amsterdam.
- 4
Barcelona
SpainUp to about €15 per person per night (Catalan regional levy plus the municipal surcharge)≈ €15.00 normalisedTwo levies stacked — Catalonia's regional tax and the city's own surcharge, which roughly doubled for 2026. The municipal component is legislated to climb to the statutory €8 ceiling by 2029, so this row will move every year until then.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Barcelona.
- 5
Greece
Greece€2 per night in 1–2-star hotels up to €15 in 5-star hotels (peak season rates)≈ €15.00 normalisedNational, not municipal — the climate-resilience levy replaced the old hotel tax and is banded by category and season. Athens, Santorini and a village guesthouse are all on the same schedule, which is unusual; most countries leave this to the city.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Greece.
- 6
Berlin
Germany7.5% of the room rate, per room per night≈ €11.25 normalisedPercentage-based and capped at 21 nights, which makes Berlin unusually cheap for a long stay and unusually expensive for one night in a good hotel. The business-travel exemption is real but requires paperwork most visitors never file.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Berlin.
- 7
Rome
Italy€4 per person per night in a 1-star hotel rising to €10 in a 5-star≈ €10.00 normalisedBanded by star rating and capped at ten consecutive nights. Italy's imposta di soggiorno is set municipally, so Rome's schedule tells you nothing about Florence's or Milan's — a trap for anyone budgeting a multi-city trip from one figure.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Rome.
- 8
Paris
France€9.20 per person per night in a 5-star hotel; about €6.60 in a mid-range hotel≈ €9.20 normalisedThe taxe de séjour carries a regional surcharge on top of the municipal rate, which is why the figure a visitor sees on the bill is higher than the headline rate the city publishes. Banded by category, per person, with no night cap.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Paris.
- 9
Edinburgh
Scotland5% of the room rate excluding VAT, capped at the first 5 consecutive nights≈ €7.50 normalisedScotland's first visitor levy, live since 24 July 2026 and the template every other UK city is watching. The five-night cap is the notable design choice: it taxes the weekend break hard and the fortnight barely at all.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Edinburgh.
- 10
Budapest
Hungary4% of the room rate, per room per night≈ €6.00 normalisedLow in absolute terms because Budapest room rates are low — the percentage basis means the levy tracks the market rather than a fixed schedule that has to be relegislated every few years.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Budapest.
- 11
Dubai
United Arab EmiratesAED 7 per room per night in a 1–2-star hotel rising to AED 20 in a 5-star≈ €5.00 normalisedThe Tourism Dirham is per room and modest by European standards, but it sits alongside a municipality fee and a service charge that together add rather more to the bill than the headline figure suggests.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Dubai.
- 12
Brussels
Belgium€5 per accommodation unit per night in hotels; €4 in homestays and campsites≈ €5.00 normalisedRaised on 1 January 2026 and levied per unit rather than per head, which makes Brussels one of the cheaper capitals for a family and one of the more expensive for a solo traveller in a single room.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Brussels.
- 13
Venice
Italy€1 to €5 per person per night depending on accommodation category and season≈ €5.00 normalisedVenice's overnight levy is unremarkable — it is the separate day-visitor access fee that draws the headlines, and the two are routinely confused. Staying the night exempts you from the access fee entirely.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Venice.
- 14
Vienna
Austria3.2% of the room rate, rising toward 5%≈ €4.80 normalisedAmong the gentler rates in Western Europe and applied to the net room price. A rise toward 5% has been flagged for mid-2026, so treat the current figure as a floor rather than a settled number.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Vienna.
- 15
Lisbon
Portugal€4 per person per night≈ €4.00 normalisedDoubled from €2 in 2024 and capped at seven nights. Flat-rate and per person, so it lands hardest on budget travellers — a hostel bed carries the same €4 as a suite.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Lisbon.
- 16
Porto
Portugal€3 per person per night≈ €3.00 normalisedRaised from €2 in 2025 and structured exactly like Lisbon's, one euro lower. Portugal leaves the rate to each municipality, so a Douro valley night may carry nothing at all.
- 17
Prague
CzechiaCZK 50 (about €2) per person per night≈ €2.00 normalisedOne of the lowest rates in any major European capital, and unchanged since 2022 — which in real terms means it has been quietly falling for four years.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Prague.
- 18
Bucharest
Romania10 lei (about €2) per person per night≈ €2.00 normalisedA late entrant, flat-rate and low. Romania has left the decision to municipalities, so Bucharest charging does not mean Brașov or Cluj do.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Bucharest.
No levy matches that. Try clearing a filter.
Bars are on a logarithmic scale. The normalised euro figure exists only to sort this table: percentage levies are converted at an assumed room rate of €150 a night, and where a levy is banded by hotel category we rank on the highest rate in the published schedule. The figure you will actually pay is the one in the local currency above it — a percentage of your room rate is not a fixed sum, and no conversion here should be read as one.
Charged per arrival or per visit
These are one-off charges — an entry fee, a departure tax, a cruise-call levy. They are listed apart from the nightly table because the two are not comparable: a levy of €20 once and a levy of €20 a night describe completely different trips.
- 1
New Zealand
New ZealandNZ$100 once, paid with the NZeTA application≈ €55.00The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy nearly tripled from NZ$35 in late 2024 and has held since. A one-off charge, not a nightly one, which makes it cheap for a month and steep for a stopover.
- 2
Barcelona
SpainUp to €24 for cruise passengers ashore under 12 hours≈ €24.00The city moved for the maximum permitted surcharge rather than the €8 originally floated, explicitly to price short cruise calls out. Combined with other charges a day passenger can face close to €30.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Barcelona.
- 3
Santorini and Mykonos
Greece€20 per cruise passenger, peak season≈ €20.00Aimed squarely at the day-visitor economy rather than at hotel guests, and paired with a hard cap on cruise passenger numbers at Santorini. The fee and the cap are one policy; reading either alone misses the point.
- 4
Japan
Japan¥3,000 per person, collected inside the ticket price≈ €18.30Tripled from ¥1,000 for tickets issued from 1 July 2026, and it applies to residents and visitors alike. Because it is bundled into the fare, most travellers pay it without ever seeing it itemised.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Japan.
- 5
Amsterdam
Netherlands€15 per cruise passenger not staying overnight≈ €15.00The day-tripper counterpart to Amsterdam's 12.5% room levy, and part of the same policy of shifting the city away from high-volume, low-spend visits.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Amsterdam.
- 6
Venice
Italy€5 per day visitor booked more than 4 days ahead; €10 booked later≈ €10.00The first entry charge of its kind for a European city, and the tiered price is the interesting part: booking late costs double, which is a crowd-management lever rather than a revenue one. It applies on 60 dates between 3 April and 26 July 2026, 08:30 to 16:00.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Venice.
- 7
Iceland
IcelandISK 1,000 per cruise berth per night≈ €6.80Iceland reinstated its accommodation levy in 2024 after a pandemic suspension and extended it to cruise berths, closing the gap that let ship-based visitors use the country without contributing to it.
Planning the trip? Our guide to Iceland.
The cuts
Announced, not yet charged 5 changes
Levies and increases that have been legislated or announced but were not being collected on the measurement date. This is the section worth checking before you book anything more than a few months out.
- Thailand Awaiting final Cabinet approval and a collection system A 300 baht (about €8) entry fee for air arrivals Ministry of Tourism and Sports
- Norway Enabling legislation passed; municipalities adopting individually A 3% levy on overnight stays, which each municipality may opt into Government of Norway
- Amsterdam — Netherlands 2027, under the current coalition agreement The room levy rises from 12.5% to 16% Gemeente Amsterdam
- Barcelona — Spain 2029 The municipal surcharge climbs in annual steps to the statutory €8 per night ceiling Ajuntament de Barcelona
- Vienna — Austria Flagged for mid-2026 The accommodation levy rises from 3.2% toward 5% Stadt Wien
Screened out, and why 6 jurisdictions
Charges large enough or famous enough to expect here that failed one of the three gates. Most are here because they are not levied by a public authority, or because they fall on residents exactly as they fall on visitors.
- Milan — Italy Gate 3. The rate changed on 1 January 2026 under the Winter Olympics decree, which permits up to €5 per night above the old schedule — but the resulting figure could not be read off the comune's own tariff. Cut for want of evidence, not because Milan does not charge.
- Las Vegas, Orlando and other US resort-fee destinations — United States Gate 1. A resort fee is a charge the hotel sets and keeps, not a levy imposed by a public authority. It behaves like a tourist tax on the bill and is nothing like one in law.
- US city and county transient occupancy taxes — United States Gate 2. These are lodging taxes falling equally on residents, domestic business travellers and visitors, rather than levies aimed at visitors as such. A large and separate category that this index does not yet cover.
- VAT and national sales taxes on accommodation — Various Gate 2. General consumption taxes, not visitor levies. Including them would put every country on the list and tell a reader nothing.
- Air Passenger Duty and equivalent aviation taxes — Various Gate 2. Levied on the flight rather than on the visit, and payable by residents flying out as readily as by tourists flying in. Japan's departure tax is listed because it is explicitly framed and hypothecated as a tourism levy; APD is not.
- Bali tourist levy — Indonesia Gate 3. A IDR 150,000 levy on foreign arrivals is in force, but compliance and collection have been reported as partial and the authority's own published terms could not be confirmed on the measured date. Cut pending a primary read.
Every rate here was compiled on September 30, 2026 against the authority that levies it. A row marked Primary was read off that authority’s own page; a row marked Corroborated is one where independent reports agree but a direct read was not possible on the day — several authorities block automated requests, and Venice’s access-fee portal renders its figures in script rather than in the page.
Where a levy varies by hotel category, the index ranks on the HIGHEST rate in the published schedule — the most a visitor could pay — because band endpoints are what authorities actually publish and interpolating a mid-band rate would be invented precision. Conversions use indicative rates from 2026-09-30 and exist only to order the table.
Tourist taxes change at the turn of a financial year more often than at any other time, and a municipal rate can move without national coverage. Check the linked source before you budget. No authority on this page was consulted about its placement, and nothing here is sponsored.
Tourist tax FAQ
Six questions about tourist taxes and this index.
Which city has the highest tourist tax?
On a per-night basis it is Bhutan, at USD 100 per person per night. Among cities specifically, Kyoto's top band reaches ¥10,000 per person per night on rooms at ¥100,000 or more, and Amsterdam charges the highest percentage rate in Europe at 12.5% of the room price before VAT. Because some levies are flat and some are a share of the room rate, the "highest" depends entirely on what room you book.
Do I pay tourist tax on top of my hotel booking?
Usually yes. Most city taxes are collected at the property on arrival or departure rather than included in an online booking total, which is why the figure surprises people at check-out. Percentage-based levies are more often folded into the rate you were quoted; flat per-person ones rarely are.
Is a resort fee the same as a tourist tax?
No, and the difference matters. A tourist tax is levied by a public authority and the money goes to it. A resort fee is set and kept by the hotel. They land on the same bill and they are not the same thing, which is why resort-fee destinations are excluded from this index and listed in the cuts.
Who is exempt from tourist taxes?
Children are exempt almost everywhere, though the age cut-off varies widely — under-10s in Rome, under-13s in Lisbon, under-18s in Paris and Prague. Residents are normally exempt, and several cities exempt business travellers who can produce employer documentation. Every row here states the exemptions the authority publishes.
How current are these rates?
They were compiled on September 30, 2026 against each levying authority, not from travel-press roundups. 1 of the rows were read directly off the authority's own page; the rest are marked as corroborated, meaning independent reports agree but a primary read was not possible on the day. Rates change at the turn of a financial year more often than at any other time.
Which destinations are about to introduce a tourist tax?
Thailand has a 300-baht entry fee awaiting final Cabinet approval, and Norway has passed enabling legislation for a 3% overnight levy that municipalities adopt individually. Amsterdam rises to 16% in 2027 and Barcelona climbs in annual steps to €8 a night by 2029. All of them are listed under "Announced, not yet charged" below.