Copenhagen mulls introducing a tourist tax

Different possible scenarios are being discussed regarding the surcharge

Just last week, Copenhagen made news with its plan to reward tourists for good behaviour. That alone, however, might not be enough to manage successful tourist flows and now there’s talk in the city council regarding the introduction of a tourist tax in line with many other popular European and global destinations.

Charging an overnight visitor fee has in fact been in discussion for at least two years now in the Danish capital but it now seems more likely than ever to be introduced after a majority of politicians in the city council support the idea.

Needs national government approval

Copenhagen has warmed up to the tourist tax but apparently, the national government in the face of Minister of Business Morten Bødskov is still on the fence. The thing is the city politicians need the backing and approval of the higher echelon in order to implement the measure.

The Copenhagen Economic Committee has decided to appeal to the ministerial decision by proposing a four-model plan which contains various ways the Danish capital could go about this.

The models are very different. In one of them, a fee corresponds to one euro per accommodation with an estimated revenue of DKK 51 million annually (about 6.8 million euros). In another, it must only apply to tourists on cruise ships.

If eventually the tourist tax idea gets a green light Copenhagen will become only the latest European city to try and limit tourist flows by imposing financial barriers.

The issue is that even if politicians like the idea, Denmark’s largest business and employers’ organization Dansk Industri, doesn’t agree that it makes any sense.

According to Lars Bertolt Winther, head of tourism, “neither Copenhagen nor the tourism industry will benefit from the introduction of a tourism tax” because, unlike other countries, tourism doesn’t represent such an important share of the local economy.