Prague reveals design plans for the Vltava Philharmonic Hall
The Danish studio Bjarke Ingels Group won the international architectural competition
In light of the damage caused to the tourism sector by the pandemic, local authorities have reevaluated the need for the change
With the coronavirus pandemic causing significant economic damage not only to individuals but to entire sectors of the economy, the interim local authorities in the Latvian capital of Riga have decided that they will postpone the introduction of the tourist tax that was previously scheduled to come into force in 2021. Instead, it will be introduced at the start of 2022, once economic woes have subsided.
The thought in the back of the minds of local officials is clear – the introduction of a tax would place an additional burden on citizens that might make them less inclined to travel, thereby hindering the recovery of the country’s tourism sector. By removing this additional obstacle, authorities hope that its recovery will continue without interruption.
One of the main problems that the introduction of a tourism tax aims to solve is the overburdening of the urban area by an increased influx of people. Such influxes can prove to be damaging to the environment and contribute significantly to the deterioration of local infrastructure thereby negatively impacting the quality of life of those living in the most-visited parts of the city.
Tourism taxes have become an increasingly popular measure among local administration in many cities that see a large number of tourists arriving throughout the summer or winter months. For example, cities across Portugal that have introduced such additional levies are successfully managing to offset some of the impact that tourists have on the environment and on the local infrastructure by using the collected funds for the regeneration of their respective urban areas.
Unfortunately, in the post-corona world, such measures have to be delayed in order to allow for businesses and individuals to spread their wings and freely choose their destinations – without taking into account yet another hindrance.
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Student teams will have 24 hours to come up with solutions for that issue
The Smart City Alliance has been quietly building functional tools for both citizens and authorities since 2016
The cities met last week in Katowice to draft a plan on how to facilitate cycling between their territories
The REPowerEU 200 billion-euro plan calls for a gradual reduction of Russian fuel imports
It is renewing and introducing direct flight connections to attract visitors from the US, Middle East and Europe
The Catalonian capital’s society and the trajectory of its attitudes have been studied since 1998
The Finnish capital will hold ‘Entrepreneur Day for Women’ next month
These will be spread across 11 EU countries and will serve to support the EU Missions
The European Commission has accepted to develop the idea
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