Tourist Local Tax in tourism policies: the experience of Region

Dr. Giovanni Ruggieri Ph.D Department SEAS - University of PALERMO

AISRE Conference Cagliari (CA), 20-22 Settembre 2017 Framework

• Introduction

• Italian context

• Analysis and results for Sicily

• Conclusions Introduction

• Need to involve the tourists in supporting economically the management of local resources in order to avoid that only residents have to pay for property and services used also by tourists.

• Since this, more and more towns have decided to introduce a Tourist Tax.

• Relevant funding source for managing, maintaining and valorizing local tourist assets, services and resources but also local public services linked to tourism

• Improvement and expansion of tourist supply Regulatory framework

Tourist Tax: • Introduced again with D.lgs n. 23/2011 (maximum € 5,00/night/pax) for – the municipalities which are administrative centers, – the union of municipalities – the municipalities included in the regional lists of tourist sites or art cities • Kind of rates: – Fix: depends on the number of nights – Variable: depends on the kind and category of accommodation, on the medium price of the overnight in the structure, on the localisation of the structure and the period – Percentage: a fixed percentage on the total amount of the stay – Forfait: annual or monthly amount used especially in the case of accommodation different from the hotels • Exemptions: for example, people working at the accommodation, students in the case of educational trips, residents and so on

Italian context

3.928 Italian municipalities could apply the tax but only 628 apply it (year 2014)

Expenditure of the incomes deriving from the tourist tax Tourist Tax in Sicily

Only 27 over 313 Municipalities (8,6%) adopted the tourist tax till the year 2014 Municipalities adopting the Tourist Tax (2014) Total Incomes from the Tourist Tax € 14.287.263,00 (years 2011 – 2014) N. of Monthly Province Municipality Starting date months of TOTAL medium application income Incomes Messina Taormina 01/01/2013 12 € 2.987.576,00 € 124.482,33 Messina Giardini Naxos 01/06/2012 8 € 1.817.794,00 € 75.741,42 from the Palermo 01/08/2011 8 € 1.504.830,00 € 47.025,94 Catania Siracusa 30/08/2011 12 € 1.336.814,00 € 27.850,29 Tourist Tax Agrigento Sciacca 01/01/2013 12 € 1.176.458,00 € 49.019,08 (years 2011 – Ragusa 01/07/2012 12 € 783.194,00 € 32.633,08 Palermo Ragusa 17/05/2014 12 € 749.182,00 € 62.431,83 2014) Siracusa Catania 01/12/2013 12 € 596.000,00 € 49.666,67 Palermo Licata 01/01/2012 12 € 494.202,50 € 13.727,85 Agrigento Trapani 21/06/2012 12 € 442.476,00 € 18.436,50 Messina Terrasini 01/07/2012 12 € 437.503,00 € 12.152,86 Caltanissetta 30/05/2013 12 € 261.618,00 € 10.900,75 Palermo Furnari 01/07/2012 12 € 254.046,00 € 7.056,83 Catania Butera 04/08/2011 12 € 232.998,00 € 4.854,13 Trapani Castellamare del 01/08/2012 7 € 186.685,00 € 8.889,76 Ragusa Letojanni 01/06/2013 12 € 170.841,00 € 7.118,38 Trapani 21/05/2014 12 € 149.229,00 € 12.435,75 Trapani Modica 01/01/2014 9 € 130.000,00 € 14.444,44 Messina Cefalù 25/10/2012 12 € 123.534,00 € 5.147,25 Catania Castelvetrano 01/06/2013 12 € 123.494,00 € 5.145,58 Trapani Messina 01/05/2014 12 € 121.290,00 € 10.107,50 Messina Acireale 01/01/2014 12 € 118.523,00 € 9.876,92 Trapani Aci Castello 01/07/2014 8 € 43.670,00 € 5.458,75 Ragusa Scicli 01/08/2014 12 € 36.582,00 € 3.048,50 Catania Nicolosi 01/06/2013 12 € 8.318,00 € 346,58 Messina Oliveri 01/08/2014 12 € 300,00 € 25,00 Trapani 01/10/2014 12 € 105,00 € 8,75 Total - - € 14.287.262,50 € 618.032,7310/17 Municipalities I2014/A2014 Furnari € 13,14 Medium Butera € 9,89 income for Sciacca € 7,80 Licata € 7,56 each arrival Taormina € 5,29 Terrasini € 4,75 San Vito lo Capo € 4,02 Giardini Naxos € 4,01 Erice € 2,89 Castellamare del Golfo € 2,70 Scicli € 2,68 Ragusa € 2,57 Marsala € 2,37 Modica € 2,28 Siracusa € 2,07 Trapani € 1,67 Letojanni € 1,64 Catania € 1,34 Palermo € 1,15 Messina € 1,03 Cefalù € 0,97 Aci Castello € 0,82 Acireale € 0,71 Castelvetrano € 0,49 Nicolosi € 0,24 Buseto Palizzolo € 0,01 Municipalities I2014/P2014 Furnari € 2,37 Butera € 1,81 Taormina € 1,52 Medium income Sciacca € 1,48 Terrasini € 1,22 for each overnight Licata € 1,21 Marsala € 1,02 Erice € 1,01 Castellamare del Golfo € 0,91 Giardini Naxos € 0,90 San Vito lo Capo € 0,81 Modica € 0,78 Ragusa € 0,67 Siracusa € 0,66 Trapani € 0,58 Catania € 0,58 Scicli € 0,54 Palermo € 0,52 Letojanni € 0,38 Aci Castello € 0,37 Acireale € 0,31 Messina € 0,30 Cefalù € 0,22 Nicolosi € 0,11 Castelvetrano € 0,11 Buseto Palizzolo € 0,01 Overnights Overnights Overnights Conclusions

Main aspects concerning Tourist Tax

• Increasing of incomes • The whole incomes are spent at local level • Reducing seasonality in some sites • Safeguard of the environment and the other tourist assets • Increasing of tourist investments • Increasing of financial investments in public facilities • Improve marketing initiayives • Reduction in competitivity in the case of the near municipalities don’t apply the tax • A not always functional use of the incomes • Increasing of the cost of the stay • Lack of information for tourists and tourist operators about the use of the incomes • Unequal management of the tax between the municipalities

Conclusions

• Effects of Tourist Tax

• Increasing of financial resources in the local contexts • It not affects the trend of arrivals and overnights • Improvement of local tourist supply

Since this, the Tourist Tax is a precious resource

But the need of a uniform legislation concerning the main aspects of the application of the Tourist Tax emerges References

• Aguiló, E., Riera, A., & Rosselló, J. (2005). The short-term price effect of a tourist tax through a dynamic demand model: The case of the Balearic Islands.Tourism Management, 26(3), 359-365. • Ashworth, G., & Page, S. J. (2011). Urban tourism research: Recent progress and current paradoxes. Tourism Management, 32(1), 1-15. • Combs, J. P., & Elledge, B. W. (1979). Effects of a room tax on resort hotel/motels. National Tax Journal, 32(2), 201-207. • Edwards, D., Griffin, T., & Hayllar, B. (2008). Urban tourism research: developing an agenda. Annals of Tourism Research, 35(4), 1032-1052. • Federalberghi (2014), L’imposta di soggiorno, Osservatorio sulla fiscalità locale - gennaio 2014, quarta edizione, a cura di Ista e Mercury. • Federalberghi (2014), L’imposta di soggiorno, Osservatorio sulla fiscalità locale - luglio 2014, quinta edizione, a cura di Ista e Mercury. • Ficari V., Scanu G. (2013), Tourism taxation, Sostenibilità ambientale e turismo tra fiscalità locale e competitività, G. Giappichelli Editore, Torino. • Shadifar, M., Karimi, A., & Esfandiari, M. (2016). Evaluation and Classification the Effective Socio-cultural Factors in Urban Tourism that Impacts on Local Life: Case Study (Sabzevar) Based on. World Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2(1), 1-9.

References

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