Coimbra's tourist tax regulation came into force on April 5, 2023. However, following the monitoring and application work, “it was verified the need to review the annual period of application of the municipal tourist tax and reduce some exemptions from their payment, as they are not linear in the application and imply a very heavy bureaucratic burden for the establishments that settle and charge the aforementioned fee”, explains the council.

The changes relate, in general, to the scope of application of the rate, which previously affected occupancy from March to October and now affects overnight stays throughout the year.

Another of the changes is related to the entry into operation of the electronic platform for payment of the fee, which reduces bureaucracy in the process but requires adjustments to the rules of the regulation, which drops the exemptions for students, scholarship holders and occupations related to events.

According to the services' proposal, after approval, the amendment project must be submitted to a written public consultation, to collect suggestions, for a period of 30 working days, counting from the date of publication of the notice in the “Diário da República”.

In Coimbra, the fee is 1 euro per person/night, the minimum charged in Portugal, and is applied to all tourist developments and local accommodation establishments located in the geographical area of the municipality, up to a maximum of three consecutive nights (3 euros), per person and per stay, applicable to guests aged 16 or over, between the months of March and October.

The objective of charging the tourist tax is to allow the municipality to cover the costs related to the increase in the presence of tourists in the city, particularly in environmental terms, so the amount received will be entirely reinvested in improving the attractiveness of tourism in the municipality, it also indicates the same note published on the official website of the City Council.