The Municipal Assembly of Funchal approved this Wednesday the tourist tax of two euros per night, which will come into force on October 1 for local hotels and accommodations and in 2025 for cruise ships, the municipality reported.
Cited in a note from the municipality, the mayor of Funchal, Cristina Pedra (independently elected on the lists of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition), highlights that the value of the rate, two euros per night, “with a maximum limit of seven ” – is one of the “lowest in Europe”.
In the note, Cristina Pedra justifies the collection of the fee with “huge tourist pressureand the “overloading” of the municipality’s infrastructure, recalling that in 2019, considered the best tourist year of the season prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, a record of “1.6 million tourists was recorded and, in 2023, 2.1 million, more than half a million tourists”.
Tourism is above average, but unemployment and poverty levels are high in Madeira
“The municipality of Funchal expects to raise 1.6 million euros in revenue this year,” the note reads.
This amount will be invested in the acquisition of new equipment and maintenance work, specifically, the acquisition of equipment for urban cleaning (302 thousand euros), road repair (550 thousand euros), garden maintenance (an additional 336 thousand euros), cultural events (228 thousand euros), maintenance and mobility management services (144 thousand euros), with a contribution of 2.5% for hotel units.
Funchal will charge a tourist tax of 2 euros from October 1
A modification to the budget of the Funchal City Council for 2024 was also approved by majority, “aimed at the reprogramming and reclassification of future charges in the Municipal Activities Plan and in the Multiannual Investment Plan,” adds the head municipality of Madeira.
The Municipal Assembly of Funchal also approved, by an equal majority, the consolidated accounts of the city council and the municipal companies of Frente Mar and SocioHabita.
In the case of Frente Mar Funchal, which manages and operates the public spaces and urban parking lots of the municipality, according to Cristina Pedra, it presented a “positive net result” of 340 thousand euros”, which highlights “a financial strength and clearly demonstrates great financial health and the profound reorganization” that went from a loss-making situation, at the time of the previous Confiança council, led by the PS, to “profitable.”
“We have a robust, balanced company with a future,” highlights Cristina Pedra.
Source: Observadora
