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Brit Tax
Spain wakes up to threat the EU’s new ETIAS tourist tax poses to its British tourism
ALARM bells have started to ring in Spain over a new EU tourist tax that is set to hit the nation’s number one customer - the Brits.
The tax, known as the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), will see all nonEU tourists handing over €7 to enter the Schengen zone.
Juan Molas, the president of Spain’s Tourism Board, has expressed concern that it will
By Walter Finch
hit the country's competitiveness as a tourist destination when it is due to come into effect in November.
“We will contact the EU to learn more about this tax and how it will directly impact British tourism, which, with 18 million visitors, was our main source of travellers to Spain in 2019,” he
Cruise wave
said. Much of the ETIAS tax is shrouded in mystery, with many details, such as how it will be applied and where the money raised will go, unknown.
MSC CRUISES, the third largest cruise company in the world by number of passengers, expects to bring more than 100,000 cruise passengers to each of the ports of Malaga Alicante and Valencia this summer. The company ramping up its presence in Spain, with with MSC Cruises ships forecast to make more than 500 turnarounds or transit calls in Spain at Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Malaga, Cadiz and Tarragona, which translates into a total of more than two million tourists.