Why you should expect to pay more tourist taxes – even though the evidence for them is unclear

In April 2024, Venice began its controversial experiment to charge day trippers €5 (£4.30) to visit the city on some of the busiest days of the year. But it’s not just the lagoon city, with its 30 million visitors a year which is interested in trying out new tourism taxes.

In the UK, a council in the county of Kent has recommended introducing a tourism tax on overnight stays in the county. In Scotland, it seems likely that visitors to Edinburgh will be paying a fee by 2026...