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The Latvian capital joins a growing rank of European cities that have turned to taxing the visitors’ impact
Starting in January 2023, Riga will be the latest European destination to charge a tourist fee for overnight stays. The Latvian capital officials have stated that the tax levied on guest accommodation establishments will be 1 euro per night per visitor. However, the maximum charged amount will be 10 euros, meaning that tourists staying in the city for longer periods will be spared the tax after their tenth night.
The municipal fee for receiving tourists is already widely applied in Europe. It has been implemented in many popular destinations, such as Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Brussels, Lisbon, etc. The amount of the tax varies greatly in different countries and cities and there are several calculation models, for example, a fixed rate at the price of the service, a differentiated fee depending on the tourist accommodation category or season, or for each overnight stay.
For example, in Latvia’s neighbouring country of Lithuania, the tourist tax was introduced in Kaunas in 2016, and in Vilnius in 2018.
The City reported that it will use the revenues obtained from the fee for the implementation of projects supporting the field of tourism or developing tourism infrastructure and promoting Riga's international recognition.
The Riga Municipality adopted regulations already in 2019, anticipating the introduction of the tourist fee in 2021, but due to the sharp decrease in the number of tourists caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the introduction of the fee was postponed.
Some changes have been made to the initial proposed regulation, the main among them – children under the age of 18 will not be taxed (initially it was to be applied to everyone above 12).
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