When traveling abroad, tourist taxes are probably the last expense on your mind. After all, plane tickets, hotel stays, and food and entertainment costs can easily add up to several thousand dollars. But tourist taxes can make your vacation more expensive, and they’re going up in some places.
Tourist taxes make traveling abroad more expensive
Tourist taxes are exactly what they sound like — taxes aimed at tourists to generate revenue for local economies. These taxes help offset costs and negative impacts of tourism and over-tourism, like littering. But, you might not have realized you’re paying tourist taxes, though, because they are usually levied indirectly through a hotel accommodation or other provider.
For example, in the U.S., the room occupancy tax on a hotel stay in Connecticut is 15%, despite the state imposing a regular sales tax rate of 6.35%. The difference in the…
