The City Council of Madrid, governed by José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has ruled out implementing a tourist tax in the capital. The delegated councillor for Tourism, Almudena Maíllo, defended on Thursday in the Plenary of Cibeles that the sector already generates nearly €10 billion annually for public coffers and that a new tax would not solve the problems of overcrowding.
Tourism in Madrid contributed nearly €10 billion to public administrations during 2024, according to data presented by the City Council of the capital to justify its refusal to implement a tourist tax. This figure is equivalent to the annual healthcare spending of the Community of Madrid, according to the delegated councillor for Tourism, Almudena Maíllo.
“The capital does not plan to implement a tourist tax in order not to tax an activity that generates employment,” Maíllo stated during the Plenary of Cibeles, in response to a proposal from Más Madrid. The councillor defended tourism as “an absolutely strategic sector in the city, with high added value.”
The tourism model of Madrid: more spending, less volume
Maíllo emphasised that between 2019 and 2025, under the mandates of José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the number of international tourists grew by 13%, while tourist spending skyrocketed by 71%, reaching €18 billion. “That is precisely the model we defend. More added value for the city and for the people of Madrid, not more volume,” she explained.
For the councillor, the best tourism policy “does not consist of creating a new tax or a new fee, but in managing better.” She added that Madrid has one of the lowest tourist pressures among European capitals, so it does not need a tax to change the model.
Criticism of Más Madrid and defence of municipal management
Maíllo attacked the spokesperson for Más Madrid, Rita Ladra, by recalling that “when they were in power, the tourist tax was not a priority either because in four years they did nothing to implement it.” The councillor insisted that tourism “already makes a huge fiscal contribution to the maintenance of public services.”
“The tourist tax alone does not regulate tourism, does not solve coexistence problems, nor does it eliminate overcrowding where it exists. If it were an automatic solution, cities that have implemented it for years would not still be facing exactly the same problems,” Maíllo argued.
The councillor concluded that the priority of the government team is not “to tax an activity that generates employment and opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Madrid families,” but “to continue improving management so that it is compatible with real quality of life.”
The decision of the City Council of Madrid keeps the capital as one of the major European cities without a tourist tax, in contrast to destinations like Barcelona or Paris, which do apply it. For the people of Madrid, this means that the cost of staying in the city will not increase, which could continue to attract high-spending tourists. The debate, however, remains open: Más Madrid has already announced that it will raise the measure again.
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