How Barcelona is using its tourist tax to fight and adapt to climate change while cooling schoolchildren down
- Cities such as Barcelona, Paris and Venice are thronged with tourists, who increase the strain on civic services such as public transport and waste disposal
- Many cities levy a tourist tax, and Barcelona is using this money to install solar-powered air conditioners in 170 schools, and other long-term green projects
One of Europe’s top travel destinations doesn’t like tourists – or at least you’d get that impression reading some of the unwelcoming slogans locals have graffitied across Barcelona.
The Spanish city now has a plan that could curb some of this tourism phobia, while also helping it adapt to climate change.
Barcelona’s city hall has launched a new strategy to direct €100 million (US$108 million) from its tourist tax – the charge added to the bottom of hotel bills – to a fund that will install heat pumps and solar panels in state-owned schools.
Using this tax for clear, long-term green benefits could change the perception of the disruption caused by the city’s guests.
Barcelona, home to 1.6 million people, hosts about 7 million tourists each year, who add pressure to already strained services, such as waste removal. To deal with that, local authorities have charged a tourist tax of €2.75 per person, for every night spent in the city, and that will increase to €3.25 from April 1.