Borough charges €2 per night (up to maximum of five nights) during high season
Olhão Council has announced that it started charging its new municipal tourist tax on Monday (June 19).
The borough is charging €2 per night during the high season (April to October) and €1 during the rest of the year (November to March).
The tax is charged up to a maximum of five nights, meaning that each tourist will pay a maximum of €10 (during the high season) or €5 (during the low season).
Exemptions include children aged under 16, visitors who are in Olhão to receive “medical treatment” (the exemption extends to a caretaker or companion), and guests with 60% disability rating or higher.
Says the local council, “hotel establishments must declare the number of overnight stays to the council on a monthly basis for the subsequent issuance of the corresponding payment document.”
Olhão mayor António Pina says that the council will use 50% of the revenue from the tax to “mitigate the effects of tourist pressure, particularly in terms of cleaning and increasing security.
“The tourist tax is a contribution that tourists leave in the area to minimise their footprint,” Pina adds.
The first borough to introduce a tourist tax in the Algarve was Vila Real de Santo António in 2018.
A tourist tax was also introduced in Faro in 2019 but suspended shortly after due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It was resumed in 2022.
