Tourist tax, here are the ten cities that collect the most. Florence flies: +64% in a year
In 2023, 1,259 municipalities applied the tax (1,146 the previous year). The total collection was 792 million (+26% over 2022)
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The very healthy state of tourism is reflected in the accounts of the municipalities that apply the tourist tax: in 2023 (a record year with over 134 million arrivals and 451 million presences) there were 1,259 administrations in which the tourist tax was in force (up from 1,146 in 2022) with a total revenue of 792 million euro, equal to an increase of 26%. A panorama that could soon change given the government's willingness to modify the tax by introducing important innovations: the extension to all municipalities that wish to apply the tax (and not only provincial capitals and municipalities included in the regional lists of tourist resorts or cities of art, as envisaged at the moment) and the introduction of a system no longer linked to the classification of the accommodation facility but to the cost per night. The highest rate would be EUR 25 for luxury hotels.
In any case, revenues are bound to rise given the numbers in the tourism sector in 2024 and the possibility (provided for in the 2023 budget law) for municipalities with twenty times as many tourists as residents to raise the tax to a maximum of 10 euro per night and to increase it to two euro on the occasion of the Jubilee 2025.
The Florence case
.According to data compiled by the Fondazione Ifel-Anci, the top ten cities have secured 50% of the total: Rome confirms its position at the top of the list (165 million, +38.6%), but Florence which surpasses Milan and gains the second position with almost 70 million euros (+64.3%). A result that is due not only to the increase in tourist flows (arrivals in the city grew by 21.3% in one year) but also to the decision of the junta of the then mayor Dario Nardella (who pursued a policy of curbing short-term rentals confirmed by his successor Sara Funaro ) to increase the tourist tax from 1 April 2023 (maximum value of 8 euros). It should be noted that the capital enjoys a discipline that allows the Campidoglio to apply a maximum amount of 10 euros per night of stay. A tourist staying in the city for ten days (the maximum 'taxable' period) in a five-star hotel can end up spending 100 euros.
Verona enters the 'top ten'
.The ranking of the top ten cities by revenue from the 'city tax' does not change much compared to 2022. Venice (the municipality has introduced on an experimental basis the obligation of registration for those entering the historic centre with a contribution of five euros per day, from which, however, overnight tourists are exempt) is fourth with 38.52 million collected, but the increase compared to 2022 is just below the overall average (+22.1%). It does better Naples (where the increase in tourist flows over the last decade has led to the expansion of accommodation capacity and the City Council increased the tax by 50 cents last summer), which confirmed fifth place: the 17.54 million euro ensured by the tax on tourists is 34.15% more than the previous year.
The quartet formed by Bologna, Rimini, Torino and Sorrento (which has adjusted its tariffs upwards as of 1 January 2024) follows in identical positions with respect to the 2022 ranking. The town on the Neapolitan Gulf is the smallest in terms of population and the one with the highest ratio of revenue to residents: almost 7 million of revenue is equivalent to 420 euro per resident.
