According to the decision taken in the Municipal Assembly earlier this week, to which the Lusa agency had access to, the amount of the fee charged to guests who stay overnight in a tourist unit or similar, aged 16 years or over, up to a maximum of five nights, will have to pay two euros per night in high season (April to October) and one euro in low season (November to March).

After the notice of approval of the regulation is published in the Diário da República, Loulé, which is the largest municipality in the Algarve, will join the group of municipalities in the region that receive an amount for tourist overnight stays in the municipality: Albufeira, Portimão, Lagoa, Vila Real de Santo António, Faro and Olhão.

According to a source from the local authority who spoke to Lusa, Loulé Council expects to collect around 4.6 million euros annually with the new tax, which will be invested in “infrastructures, equipment, and services that enhance and guarantee the sustainability of tourism activity”.

The municipality considers that the municipal tourist tax is due “in return” to supporting tourist activity, namely, “through the improvement and environmental preservation of the municipality, costs with urban services, dynamisation of the municipality, tourist and cultural infrastructures, tourist promotion and information”.

The municipality intends with this new tool to ensure financing for the “effort that the municipality has to make to maintain itself as an attractive tourist destination”, the document reads.

“Therefore, in order to reduce public participation in the costs associated with equipment and activities related to tourism, it is proposed to create a municipal tourist tax in the municipality of Loulé”, explains the municipality.

The municipality of Loulé is home to several nationally and internationally recognised tourist developments, such as Quinta do Lago, Valo do Lobo, and Vilamoura, among others.