Amsterdam will soon have Europe’s highest daily tourist tax, increasing its rate from 7% of lodging cost per night to 12.5%, making it also the fourth-highest in the world.
The tax increase is aimed both to raise revenue for the city’s tourism costs and to discourage any view of Amsterdam as a cheap city for wild partying and drug use.
With the average room rate of €175 ($185.32), this translates to a €21.80 ($23.09) per night tax. Currently, the tax would be €15.25 ($16.03). Cruise passengers will also be paying more too. The current tax is €8 ($8.41), and it’s slated to go up to €11 ($11.56) per person per day.
City officials say the increase will help pay the cost of cleanup, maintenance and more for tourism, and enable them to not raise parking and local taxes for Amsterdam residents.
