A UB study shows that cruise traffic in Barcelona generates more income than expenditure for the City Council
A study by the University of Barcelona (UB) shows that cruise passengers arriving in Barcelona generate – per person per day – more income than expenditure for the City Council.
Through the payment of the tourist establishment tax (IETT plus municipal surcharge), traffic cruise passengers in the Port of Barcelona pay a tax of €6 or €7 per person per day, depending on whether their stopover is longer or shorter than 12 hours.
In addition, it is estimated that cruise passengers – the only excursionists subject to this tax – contributed €14.5 million in 2024.
These are some of the conclusions drawn from the study Aportación de los pasajeros de cruceros del Puerto de Barcelona a la recaudación fiscal del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona (Contribution of cruise passengers in the Port of Barcelona to the tax revenue of Barcelona City Council), carried out by the UB at the request of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
The study was presented by Jordi Suriñach, professor at the UB Faculty of Economics and director of the AQR-Lab Applied Economics Laboratory, and Alfredo Serrano, director of CLIA in Spain.
The study also concludes that:
– The weight of the contribution of cruise passengers to the total collection of the tourist establishment tax has increased across the board, from accounting for 3.7% of the total collection in 2012 to 9.3% in 2023.
– In 2019, it is estimated that cruise passengers accounted for 4.1% of visitors to the city and contributed 7.5% of the revenue managed by the City Council through the tourist tax.
– Therefore, the weight of cruise passengers in relation to the total number of visitors is clearly lower than their contribution to the total amount of revenue managed by the City Council.