A Green Party Councillor has argued that it is only “fair” that visitors to Dublin pay a tourist tax to help pay for the upkeep of the city. 

The idea of a tourist tax has become increasingly popular in cities across Europe and typically sees local authorities charge an extra 1 or 2% onto a visitor’s hotel bill. Sometimes it is simply set at a flat rate of €1 or €2. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Cllr Michael Pidgeon argued a tourist tax could raise much needed funds for the capital. 

“That would go to local councils to improve things, that would improve things for people who live in that area, but also for tourists themselves,” he said. 

“Things like street cleaning, public events, improving the streets, that sort of thing.”

While he conceded that Dublin is already an expensive city to visit, Cllr Pidgeon added that he did not believe an extra charge of 1 or 2% would make much of a difference. 

“I think ultimately if you'd looked at it and it was [for example, a bill of] €272,” he said. 

“I'm not sure it would make a substantial difference either to you or to your decision to come. 

“I think the smarter thing to do is just set it at a level that's relatively small; there are some countries where they set it quite high, like Amsterdam is the highest in the world, it's 12.5% hotel bill, which I think is way too high.

“Ultimately, the idea is to make sure that the council's have extra resources to improve the city.”

A hotel room interior. Picture by: FotoFlirt / Alamy Stock Photo.

Cllr Pidgeon added that it is only “fair” that visitors to the capital “would pay a small contribution” towards the upkeep of the city. 

“In Ireland, where things like museums or a lot of national sites are free to visit - I think that's a really good deal,” he said. 

“I really like that; we should keep it. 

“But I think it's fair that part of that should be funded directly from a small charge on tourists.”

Cllr Pidgeon continued that a new stream of income, independent of central Government, would allow Dublin City Council the freedom to set new spending priorities. 

“If you look at a 1% charge in Dublin, they reckon it would bring in somewhere between €12 and €15 million a year,” he added. 

“That's over 250 extra street cleaners; you can actually do stuff with this money that would, I think, have a measurable [impact].” 

Main image: A woman in her hotel room. Picture by: Alamy.com.