The Oeiras municipality will levy a tourist tax of one euro per overnight stay from this Thursday, for a maximum of seven consecutive nights, hoping to increase revenue by around 200,000 euros a year, the municipality has announced.
In a note, the chamber said that, similar to what has already been done in other neighbouring municipalities, Oeiras will begin collecting a tourist tax within the framework of the Municipal Regulation on Administrative Permits, Fees and Other Revenues (RPATOR), approved in the Municipal Assembly and published in the Diário da Republica.
The fee is charged per person, per night, for up to seven consecutive nights per stay, and applies to people aged 13 and over. Payment is made via a computer platform.
According to the municipality, Oeiras, in the Lisbon district, has 11 tourist facilities and 560 local accommodation facilities, and the tax will be applied to paid overnight stays in hotel complexes and local accommodation facilities in the municipality.
The Chamber stated that with this levy the aim is to “provide a partner for the implementation of the set of actions and investments promoted by the Municipality of Oeiras related to tourist activity”, namely: the protection of traditional trade, the creation of centres of dynamism of a cultural and recreational nature, the management of public space, the provision of municipal information and support services for tourists, surveillance, security and civil protection in the municipality.
Thanks to this measure, the municipality expects to collect around 200 thousand euros per year.
Overnight stays of tourists in the municipality, according to the latest population and housing census (2021), provided by RPATOR, amounted to 347,954 (2018), 359,943 (2019), 107,115 (2020) and 153,783 (2021). Last year, it was still affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the average length of stay was 2.1 nights.