Budget 2026: Eco-tax to triple to €1.50 per tourist per night
'Quality tourists expect the best product', minister says as he underlines need for investment in tourist areas
The eco-tax charged per tourist per night is to triple from the current 50c to €1.50, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced in the Budget speech on Monday.
"We all must realise that quality tourists expect the best product during their visit. We therefore need to ensure that there is more investment in the infrastructure and the environment of certain zones," the minister said as he announced the eco-tax hike.
The tax was introduced by then tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis in 2016 and charged to all visitors aged over the age of 18. It was capped at a maximum of €5 and at the time was expected to generate €6m annually in revenue for the government.
It is not known by how much the cap will now rise.
Earlier in his Budget speech, Caruana said that the tourism sector was doing well.
Visitors to Comino during peak days reduced by 68%
He referred to measures to balance the influx of tourists, saying a good example was at Comino where the number of visitors had been reduced by 68% in peak August days compared to the previous year. The process would be carried further forward with plans by the Tourism Authority to continue to improve facilities on the small island.
The minister stressed that tourist accommodation needed to match the government's tourism ambitions, including both hotels and apartments.
The legislative framework would therefore be updated, offering greater certainty to the owners of tourist properties and their neighbours so that tourists would continue to be welcomed by the communities. Pilot projects in this sense have already been announced for Swieqi and Valletta.