The Portuguese Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism (APHORT), based in Oporto, says that the ‘tourist tax’ is a bad idea and is really a tax on consumption, and proposes instead that "councils should have a share in VAT receipts.”
The tourist ‘per night’ tax started 18 months ago in Lisbon and is due to start in Oporto on 1 January, 2018 but the hoteliers say this is "a municipal fee on overnight stays in tourist accommodation establishments," and hence unfair.
"It follows that only part of the temporary residents of Lisbon and Oporto will contribute to the sustainability of these cities. These are they who choose to sleep in the city and, within this group it’s only those who do so in registered tourist accommodation," argues the association which poses a good question, "Those who sleep at a friend’s house, in a relative’s home or in an unregistered establishment are exempt. Why do they contribute less to what the mayor of Oporto calls, “the tourist footprint”?
The association, chaired by Rodrigo Pinto de Barros, says that, as it stands, "the tourist tax is pretty much a tax on consumption which by rights should be the responsibility of parliament," concluding that the tourist tax "is not the correct form of financing by non-residents to the sustainability of the city.
Pinto dos Barros adds that, "the solution is not to create new taxes, but to redistribute the tax that these temporary residents already pay," – i.e. VAT.
Instead of charging a tourist tax, the association argues that "a portion of VAT revenue delivered to the State by local companies should be returned to the area to finance its conservation and modernisation."
This proposal, says Pinto dos Barros, "has the support of the Portuguese Tourism Confederation" and was "shared with all the candidates for the presidency of the Chamber in the upcoming elections scheduled for October 1st."
