Starting January 2023, Riga, like many other cities in Europe and the world, will introduce a tourist charge, which means that all accommodations intended for tourists will have to pay a fee of one euro per day for each guest staying overnight, but no more than ten euros if the stay is longer.
Municipal tourist charges are commonly practised in Europe. This includes many popular tourist destinations, like Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Brussels, Lisbon, and others. The charged rate varies widely from country to country and from city to city, and there are several models for calculating it, such as a flat rate on top of the price of the service, differentiated charges depending on the category of the tourist accommodations, seasonal differences, or the use of a nightly rate. For example, our neighbours in Lithuania introduced a tourist charge in Kaunas in 2016 and in Vilnius, in 2018.
The city will use the revenue generated by the charge to implement projects supporting tourism or developing tourism infrastructure and to promote the international image of Riga.
The Riga municipal government adopted similar regulations in 2019, with a view to introducing a tourism charge in 2021, but this was postponed due to the sharp drop in tourist arrivals caused by COVID-19. A new draft regulation* for the introduction of the tourist charge was prepared and approved by the Finance and Administration Committee of the Riga City Council on Thursday, 3 November, while the final decision regarding it will be made at a City Council meeting.
A number of changes have been introduced compared to the previously adopted rules:
- all electronic activities related to the charge will have to be done via the www.latvija.lv website, and not the www.e-riga.lv portal;
- the charge will not apply to overnight stays in tourist accommodations by children under 18 (previously, it was 12);
- the Riga City Council Municipal Revenue Office will manage the charge.
The tourist charge will be paid by those who host guests in paid tourist accommodations in Riga. The charge will be one euro for each night spent in tourist accommodations, up to a maximum of ten euros for a single uninterrupted period of stay.
For those who provide tourist accommodations in Riga, the first step is to register as a charge payer. Before 10 January 2023, they must register using the online form of the e-service ‘Municipal charge for accommodating tourists’ (EP233) (‘Pašvaldības nodeva par atpūtnieku un tūristu uzņemšanu’) on latvija.lv, indicating the basic details of the payer and the tourist accommodation.
Once registered, the charge payer will have to submit a monthly report on the number of guests staying at the tourist accommodation and the charge to be paid. Every quarter, the charge payer will be required to pay the municipality the charge calculated for the previous quarter.
Riga City Council Binding Regulations ‘Municipal Charge for Providing Tourist Accommodations in Riga’
Information prepared by: Mārtiņš Vilemsons, Project Coordinator at External Communication Division of Riga City Council Communication Department, e-mail: martins.vilemsons@riga.lv