Spain's tourism industry concerned that new EU tax could affect tourist numbers from the UK

There are growing concerns among Spain's tourism industry after news of a new EU tourist tax that would penalise the main international client of the country, travellers from the UK. The president of the Spanish tourism industry strategy group, Mesa del Turismo, Juan Molas, expressed their concerns about the creation of this new tourist tax for non-EU visitors who access the Schengen Area, which includes British tourists since Brexit.

The EU are scheduled to start applying it rate from November, under the name of the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), which requires payment of seven euros from every non-EU tourist visiting Spain, which includes the Canary Islands.

Molas pointed out that some details of the ETIAS are still unknown. "We are going to establish contacts to find out more about it and how it would directly impact British tourism, as we had 18 million visitors from the UK to Spain in 2019."

British tourists accounted for 33% of all visitors to the Canary Islands in 2022 and reached almost five million arrivals.

Although many details of the ETIAS have been released, as reported here in the Canarian Weekly: 9 things you need to know about ETIAS before it becomes effective in November, the industry believes that there are still grey areas that will mean some Brits will head elsewhere next year.