Tourist Tax: Why Am I Paying Extra?

[00:00:00] If you've traveled and paid for a plane ticket, most of your travel price is fees, if you've noticed. From sneaky hotel travel fees to airport departure charges, tourist taxes, it can quickly increase if you've probably noticed, right?

[00:00:27] But in this episode, what I'm hoping we can do is break down exactly what these fees may cover. All right? So possibly just having an idea of where are these fees going? Like, what's the point to them? Why are we paying them? Besides the fact that we're complaining about them, right? Like, why does it have to be so friggin' expensive?

[00:00:53] Yeah. I mean, I can make this really quick and simple that people are going to hate anyway, and it's just because, obviously, technically, it's supposed to help out that country or that city or whatever. Yeah. Tourism, you know, tourism, what's the word I'm looking for? Economy. They're tourists. Yeah, that's what we think. I mean, because there's like resort fees and then like destination fees. Exactly.

[00:01:22] For cities are super annoying. And then just fees. Because it's funny that we're doing this topic right now because just yesterday, actually, I heard on the news here in France that Spain has increased their tourism fees specifically on Airbnbs and hotels. Well, weren't they the ones shooting water guns at people? Yeah. Exactly.

[00:01:47] They're like, we're going to collect off of this if all these people are coming in and like basically making it unaffordable for the locals. Exactly. We're going to collect on this tourism. But the problem with that is, is the people who own Airbnbs, hotels, are very pissed because they have to, you know, get the burden of the-

[00:02:10] It might be to discourage them from even doing Airbnbs to begin with. They probably want people to use the hotels that are already there and not rent out every space as an Airbnb. Mm-hmm. Because then- It could be possible. Yeah. Then it's just like a transient population and there's no locals and you just lose all of that charm that you're traveling there for the first place anyway.

[00:02:32] What are exactly the fees? So let's talk about the basics of that. What, what are the tourist taxes? Um, cause we mentioned that we talked about tourist taxes. We talked about, you know, the fees and how that breakdown is. What are they? So the fees are hotels, you know, the, your hotel fee, your flights and attractions. Those additional fees when you purchase for, um, for those particular costs. Um, what, what do they go to? Why do they go to?

[00:03:01] Why do they exist? We mentioned that first supporting local governments budgets, right? It's supposed to go to the local economy. It's for maintaining infrastructure, right? For, for, because of visitors, because there's more visitors to the country. Now they have to improve roads, right? They have to have public transportation. They have to have, um, you know, waste services, you know, more receptacles, you know, out, you know, trash, except for maybe in Asia where you have to carry your own trash.

[00:03:28] Right. That's only, I think in Japan, the other countries don't, uh, Korea. In Hampshire don't do that in Korea. No. Korea don't do that. It was just like. Cause I remember it being not the cleanest place when I would live there. Right. So, so that's what it's supposed to be for, um, you know, to help, to help maintain these infrastructures. Makes sense. I mean, it makes sense.

[00:03:50] But again, it's not only European that are doing this America, they're doing it too. Cause if you go to anywhere in New York, New York city, you know, The destination fee will be added onto the hotel bill. Yeah. And it's a nightly, sometimes it's like a nightly fee. Super annoying.

[00:04:07] Yes. And I just noticed, I just came back from Switzerland and I noticed, you know, one of my lodging tax was, it was called the city tax, but also was, there was also a tax for, um, electric vehicles. Because regular cars, regular cars are not allowed in that resort. So it's only electric type of buggy looking vehicles.

[00:04:33] Wait, so they're taxing the vehicle, but there's a fee that you have to pay. Yeah. It says EV. So I don't know why I need to pay it because I don't have it. Huh? Do you remember? They have that in London as well. I think there's a, there's a town that they're looking for. Yeah. They have a carbon tax within London itself. You know, the funny thing is I don't even, this is so bad of me. I rarely look, and I don't think many people do when they, when they're on vacation.

[00:05:03] Yeah. I mean, I, I, I mean, I look at the, I, I mean, obviously I look at my bill to make sure that I, I did, I purchased the things that I'm being charged for. Yes. And I was recently in Denver at the Gaylord. And there was a resort fee. I mean, I, I was staying there on points. Yeah. I still, even when I'm staying on points, I'm still paying all the taxes and fees. Yeah. So that was annoying. Yeah. And that's my point. That's my point. Yeah. Every time, every time I use my, that's a good point you made too, Benav.

[00:05:32] Every time I use my reward points and you pay for the hotel. Cause it happened. I use my reward points to go to Berlin and I didn't have to pay for the room or anything like that. But as soon as I checked out, they're like 25 euros and 60 cents. I was like 25 euros for what? And they're like, oh, that's the city tax. This, this, this, this. And I'm like, then what's the sense of having reward points?

[00:06:07] No, I know. And you have to remember your departure taxes. As you're mentioning, Paul, you know, hotels, airports are big, especially if you're traveling internationally. I'll never forget the time that Earl and I, it had been a while since we had gone back to Belize. It had been a couple of years. And with him being a Belizean citizen, um, we had flown a different airline at this time. It wasn't, it wasn't like United or something like that, like an American, an American run airlines. It was something different. And so the taxes weren't included.

[00:06:36] So I had to pay a separate fee in us, but because he was Belizean, he had to pay in, in, uh, the Belizean dollar. So he had actually run back. And this was like, as we're going onto the flight, like he only had about 45 minutes. He had to go back to an ATM, pull out the U S uh, Belizean dollar, pay that from a run back to the gate. He couldn't pay in us dollars. That's so weird. That's weird. Yeah. Normally people would want American dollars.

[00:07:04] The U S dollar is pretty strong. That's where it gets dicey. Cause you're like, I have to pay an exit fee, you know, and you want to be getting out of the country. Like what outrageous fee are they charging? Um, and if you don't, if you're not a local, you might not know that this is a bogus fear. It's being over. Um, it's being raised. I think in Europe, when you go into a hotel or something, you literally, if they quoted

[00:07:33] you this, that's what you're paying in America. It's not like, you know, you don't include the taxes and fees and the nightly rate. I, they, they, they include approximate. They don't include exact. Yeah. So in, in, in Europe, if it says, you know, when you do your calculation and it says, okay, for three nights, it will cost you 260 euros. Yeah. All the taxes are already included in that.

[00:08:03] That's the same for like clothing. Like everything's already included. Exactly. Clothing, food, everything. They give you the price before the tax. You get up there. Yeah. And a lot of my European friends. Yeah. I'm sure. Annoyed. They're like, why are you telling me something costs 2099? And then I get to the counter and it's like 33. Yeah. 17. Yeah. I know. Just tell me what I need to pay. Yeah. A lot of the sites online.

[00:08:31] I know, especially now when you're, when you're trying to book a hotel or something like that, there is an option where you can click a box so that you can see what it will be with taxes, like estimated with taxes. Yeah. Typically that, that price will be what it is. But a lot of times when you go to the hotel itself, you can ask them to go ahead and include the taxes, which I like to do, especially when I'm asking, okay, I know I'm going to have to leave a deposit.

[00:09:01] What's the deposit ahead of time so that, you know, cause some, depending on where you are, if it's, you know, if it's a, if it's a heavily poor city or if it's something that's right in the center, you'll have to leave more than, than a deposit. Like in Chicago, I had to, you know, we had to leave a $500 deposit versus if I was you know, in say Lubbock I had, you know, it was a $25 deposit for the hotel. So yeah. I don't mind leaving a deposit cause I know I'm getting my money back.

[00:09:28] It's just, I know, I know, but some people are, some people are scheduling right down to the last dollar. So why I mentioned that, you know, it might be something that you need to include to consider that that's going to be authorized. So you need to make sure that you, you allot for that amount. Yeah. And I, I don't, my fear is all the time whenever I'm booking hotels or anything like that in the States is that I hate where it shows me the approximate cost.

[00:09:57] Cause I know I always have to round up in my mind. Whereas if I'm traveling anywhere else across the world, I don't have to worry about that. If I'm in, if I'm in Sweden, I know if it says it's $359 and 16 cents, I'm not going to pay any more over that unless I purchase something or whatever. Whereas in the States is they think that's how they get away with it.

[00:10:23] You know, cause of the laws they could say, Oh, we said it was approximate. So you can't, you know, say anything about it or whatever. We don't really consider fees because, and I don't know why in my mind, I don't. Well, we just forget about them, but it needs to be included in your budgeting for, um, especially if you're, but what's the best way to include it though? I mean, you have to do the research or just add a percentage overage for those incidentals

[00:10:51] like taxes and fees. Um, yeah. What, what, what do you feel is the government's responsibility on this, on this whole topic? Um, you know, as far as sustainability on tourism, where do they stand in this, in this, in this whole situation? I feel like there has to be some sort of regulation because if not, the tourists are just going to come in like locusts and then leave and the city is trashed. So it, people are going to want to go and see Venice. They're going to want to go and see Paris.

[00:11:20] It's, it's not like they're not going to show up if you charge a fee that makes sense so that they can keep their city looking amazing. Otherwise it's going to be trashed. Who's paying for that? Tourists are just leaving. I mean, they don't care. They'll just trash the place. So, I mean, they, they, they need to capitalize on the fact that people want to go to these

[00:11:43] places in a way so that they can make tourism sustainable, um, for the longterm. Is there a way to avoid, um, different fees specifically? Is there a credit card? I mean, why do we want to avoid, I mean, like work because you're not paying, you know, that people don't want to pay. Yeah, but I don't, I don't know that we can, I don't know that we can avoid that.

[00:12:09] I mean, we can't, I don't think, I don't think it's fair for us to not, to deny a country, to not be able to capitalize. Well, that's not what I said. That's not what I said. I said, that's not what I said. What I said was, can we, the consumer avoid the fees? So what I mean by that is I know there are certain cards sometimes pick up that fee. So the consumer, cause that's who we're talking to right now, I would assume like, so for example,

[00:12:39] if I have an American express card, they, they, they will just, um, charge you whatever it is that they charge, but they'll say, we will pick up the tab of the fees or whatever. Maybe, but you're probably paying a annual membership for that. Correct. Correct. Exactly. Yeah. But, but, but mental, mental wise. Okay. That's a one year fee that I pay versus doing, I mean, it works because I, I, you know, whenever

[00:13:07] I have a visa, like my visa card, I'm just saying any of the cards, any of the cards, I just mentioned American express, but like, I don't have an American express, but I do have a Sapphire and they do cover a lot of, a lot of, uh, fees of some sort, but I do pay a hefty annual fee. Yeah. So maybe, so maybe this is where, this is where that conversation comes in now where,

[00:13:31] you know, places like now in Europe, UK is starting the ETA or that electronic, uh, travel authorization that you were speaking on, Bnef. Um, you know, the topic that you bridged just a moment ago is having that fee that you pay, which in two folds, it will go to the government, but also it stands as an immigration, um, or

[00:13:57] a gate system, uh, electronic gate system for travelers. So it's just like, yeah. Yeah. As of if, if, if for your information, um, uh, as of January 8th of this year, 2025, um, the UK started their ETA or the electronic travel authorization. It's a new digital registration, um, system for travelers who don't need a visa to enter into the UK.

[00:14:24] So basically meaning that if you, you know, with us being from the United States or you're from any one of the countries that don't need a visa, um, or also a visa, you can register ahead of time. Well, you'll have to register ahead of time before you're looking to travel to any, any of the, or the UK or England or, you know, any countries within the UK. And then, um, once you receive your approval, then you're able to, um, take that and your passport and that should be able to get you once you land to be able to enter. Yeah. Correct.

[00:14:54] You have to register now and pay a fee. Yeah. We should note the fee is nothing astronomical. It's, it's right. It's literally like eight euros or $30. It's not, it's a tracking mechanism and it's a source of revenue. So, but it is a source of revenue. But this is why. Yeah. Let me just finish this out. The old way was to purchase a plane ticket, show your passport at your UK destination, and then you're allowed into the country.

[00:15:21] But now this is supposed to alleviate most of that because now you have prior approval because you've, um, you've gone ahead and done your clearance online. Now you can't fly. You must register and get pre-travel authorization to fly. So you're going to have to have that information and it will be logged and tracked online. So not only will you have to have the approval with you, but you'll also, they'll also have to be shown in the system. They check it when you, um, check in for your flight.

[00:15:51] Right. For six months or less short visits for tourism or business. Um, so that's the new way. Um, and that just started, um, again, as of January 8th, uh, it is going to be coming to the rest of, um, Europe, uh, I believe starting in November. And I believe you could start re, uh, pre-registering starting, I think sometime in March, they said that you'll start to pre-register for that, but it actually won't roll out till November.

[00:16:16] It wouldn't surprise me if credit card companies latch on to paying those fees for folks because I don't pay any TSA fees or what's that other card we have in America? The global entry. Global entry. All my credit card services pay for those, uh, those fees annually for me. So that's why I say it wouldn't surprise me. Yeah. Yeah. It wouldn't surprise me if it, and it would be smart for credit card companies to use that

[00:16:46] as an incentive to have people, you know, uh, jump on board to their credit card, uh, for applications and stuff like that too, as well. So when don't we need an ETA? I think there's like a couple of parameters when you don't need one. I think we had a, um, I mean, I, well, if you're a citizen of that country, you're traveling back, you probably would already need it. Yeah.

[00:17:12] Um, like, I guess if you're already have a visa for some reason, cause I was just going to say, yeah, yeah, I already have a work visa or you're studying there and then you shouldn't need it. Um, this should probably roll out to me because I'm in that situation and I have no idea. I have no idea what I need. To be honest. Well, because, and I mean, duh, you're already, I mean, you're already in the system. So I have a visa. Yeah. And are we talking about UK? Are we talking about other? Well, both.

[00:17:41] Cause both is going to come up. Yeah. Oh, but so EU citizens don't need the ETA. So they do or they do not? No, they do not. If you're British or, yeah, I think if you're British, if you're, yeah, if you're British or Irish citizen, cause it's part of the UK. Yeah. You don't need that. Oh no, no, no. I think what Benef was asking was does EU have to, yes, they do. They do. Yeah. They do. So you would have to get that to go there.

[00:18:05] But if you're, I was referring to the EU, what Tricia was talking about when they. Oh yeah. Sorry. Yeah. The question is people like me who have a visa. Am I part of the system where I don't have to pay the fee for the visa? Well, you do not wait. You said Ireland, but you mean Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland. Correct. Yeah. Yes.

[00:18:34] The part is part of the UK. You know, if you are a citizen of the UK, you know, you need to make sure that you have proof that you are a citizen of the UK. You cannot just. I mean, you wouldn't be traveling without your ID, one would hope. Yeah. Yeah. But you, I think you have to prove that you're actually a citizen. Like they want you to bring a bill or they want you to bring an address or something like that. If you leave your own country, now you have to prove that you live there.

[00:19:03] Yeah, you do. Your passport is good enough. Your passport should be good enough. Yes. And you should have a passport. I should not have to bring like a bill. Your bill. Well, I'm just saying there's some people that don't, but I mean, just saying for here in the United States, it's very different. People in Europe or that live abroad, the first thing they do, it's a driver's license and it's a passport.

[00:19:26] Here in the United States, you know, you ask 10 people and maybe two of them might have a passport. You know, it's just not something. Well, our country is just so much bigger. So it's like. But I have to caution people because here in Europe, to be honest with you, the first thing that they normally ask you for is always a passport when you're either going to a hotel or anywhere. They'll take a copy of it. Yeah, they will. I never do.

[00:19:55] But don't be don't don't don't fret, because a lot of times hotels will will be OK with you showing an ID because I personally don't like to give my passport to nobody. So I usually just show my visa or my regular ID and play stupid. I'm not telling everyone to do that, but that's what I do. Be aware that, you know, the tax is not all that bad. They're there for the infrastructure of the government, hopefully.

[00:20:25] Of where you're going to and that they're being utilized. So if you're seeing construction where you're at or, you know, you're marveling at the fact of where you're visiting and how beautiful it is and how well maintained, that is probably your taxes. So you're definitely your taxes at work. Secondly, remember that the UK has started their their ETA or their electronic travel authorization. So you're going to need to make sure that you register online.

[00:20:54] And thirdly, relax, have fun. Enjoy, you know, have fun choosing your destination. And I should say, fourth, make sure you comment, like and subscribe if you like the information that you hear you heard today. It was so great to talk to you guys and talking to you guys again. Thanks. Thanks. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.