Yet more discussion about the wisdom and folly of tourism taxes. This time the debate in the Netherlands was kicked-off with an announcement from the Municipality of Amsterdam that it wants to levy “the highest tourist tax in the world” by 2031. Well, almost. The Sustainable Development Fee levied in Bhutan is currently $100 per person per night – comfortably above the Amsterdam proposed level of around €25 per person. If we discount the tiny Kingdom of Bhutan, however, and o

Walking through the Eixample in the centre of Barcelona one encounters an interesting exercise in bottom-up critique of urban speculation and touristification. A series of posters erected at the bottom of Passeig Sant Joan by the Associació de Veïns i Veïnes de la Dreta de Eixample - (Residents Association of the Right of the Eixample) provides a stark example of the effects of speculation and tourist pressure in the centre of Barcelona. Density of tourist beds in the Eixamp

My friend Evelyne Lehalle, who produces a great blog on cultural tourism, recently posted on the activities of Airbnb in developing...

The city of Amsterdam recently reported that measures taken to reduce the number of Airbnb properties have been successful, with a...