In Bolzano a tourist tax for four-legged tourists

In South Tyrol, a tourist tax for "four-legged tourists", i.e. EUR 1.5 per day in addition to the traditional tax for their holiday-masters, will come into effect in 2026, barring unforeseen events. This is envisaged by a bill of the South Tyrolean councillor Luis Walcher, who also wants to reintroduce, at provincial level, the dog tax, abolished by Rome 16 years ago. With the proceeds, the Autonomous Province intends to finance street cleaning and the creation of dog areas. This is a change of strategy in the fight against dog owners who do not remove their dogs' droppings.

During the last legislature, the Province of Bozen/Bolzano introduced compulsory DNA testing for all 'resident' dogs. The measure caused a lot of uproar and even made the international press. Even the BBC dealt, not without irony, with the 'poo problem', while the Reuters agency reported on 'DNA detectives in an Italian province'. The South Tyrolean way, however, proved to be difficult to apply, not least because it was not clear - without going into detail - who actually had to report and who instead had to take the sample. In the end, despite various invitations and referrals, less than half - only 12,000 of the approximately 30,000 dogs registered in South Tyrol - were traced.

This is why Bolzano now intends to reintroduce the dog tax. Walcher assumes 100 euro per dog per year. Dogs, whose DNA had been registered, would be exempt for two years, thus compensating in some way for the expense incurred at the time for tracing at veterinarians.

 An absolute novelty, however, is the tourist tax for four-legged 'tourists'. Another flaw in the DNA register was in fact that it only concerned 'resident' dogs and not the thousands and thousands of dogs that come to South Tyrol with their holidaying owners. In Germany, the Kurtaxe for man's best friend already exists, especially in the northern seaside resorts such as Binz and Sellin. Of course, the obligation for everyone - locals and outsiders - to remove faeces remains in place, otherwise fines of between 200 and 600 euros are triggered. According to Walcher, the new measure is fair because it only affects dog owners, otherwise the cleaning of the pavements would be borne by the community through the Tasi, he recalls. In a perfect world,' he admits, 'there would be no rude people and no abandoned droppings. However, the dog (tourist) tax is not yet law. For the moment it is a provincial bill that still has to go through the entire legislative process. It should, however, come into force with the New Year, barring any setbacks.