The Sant Cugat council approves this Friday the agreement with the Tax Agency of Catalonia to collect the new municipal tourist tax. The surcharge, which will be applied progressively from 1 October 2026, will reach up to 4 euros per person per night in five-star hotels.
The Sant Cugat del Vallès City Council will take the first step this Friday to become one of the first municipalities in the province of Barcelona to implement the new municipal tourist surcharge. The council will approve the agreement with the Tax Agency of Catalonia (ATC), an essential procedure to start collecting the tax from 1 October 2026.
The measure is based on the Catalan law approved in March 2026, which extended to all municipalities in Catalonia the possibility of adding their own supplement to the regional tourist tax, a power that until then only Barcelona had. Sant Cugat has chosen to activate this option from the outset and has already become a benchmark for other municipalities in the Vallès Occidental.
Sources from the local government have confirmed that Terrassa and Rubí have already requested information and advice to study its implementation. The Terrassa executive explains that they want to apply it with territorial coherence and are evaluating how the rest of the municipalities in the region will do so to ensure that the measure is equitable.
The surcharge will be applied progressively in two phases. The first, between 1 October 2026 and 31 March 2027, with amounts that will then increase from 1 April 2027. The City Council has decided to apply the maximum amounts allowed by law, without establishing differences by neighbourhoods, postal codes, or seasons.
The legal cap is four euros per person per night, on the condition that the municipal surcharge does not exceed the base rate set by the Generalitat for each category of establishment. During the first phase, five-star hotels, luxury hotels, and luxury campsites will pay 4 euros. Four-star and superior four-star hotels will pay 1.80 euros; tourist rental homes, 1.75 euros; youth hostels, 0.80 euros; and other establishments and campsites, 0.90 euros.
The collection management will be handled by the ATC, which will retain 1.2% of the revenue as a service commission. The rest will be transferred entirely to the Sant Cugat City Council.
The municipal forecasts place the revenue from the new surcharge at 592,374 euros during the year 2027. This figure breaks down into 97,477.34 euros between January and March, 364,782.05 euros between April and September, and 130,114.61 euros in the last quarter of the year. If the entire period from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2028 is considered, the estimated collection rises to 819,965.95 euros.
These amounts correspond exclusively to the municipal surcharge, excluding the revenue from the regional tourist tax, which remains in effect. The City Council will have the freedom to decide the destination of these funds. Among the options being considered by the local government are housing policies and street and public space renewal actions, although the specific allocations are not yet defined.
The implementation of the surcharge in Sant Cugat represents a milestone for tourism in the Vallès Occidental, a region that until now did not have this financing tool. The measure will allow the municipality to obtain additional resources to address the costs generated by the influx of visitors, such as the maintenance of public spaces or the promotion of local tourist offerings.
Tourists staying in Sant Cugat from 1 October 2026 will have to pay the surcharge along with the regional tax. The exact amount will depend on the type of accommodation and the period of stay. The City Council expects that revenue will grow as the system consolidates and rates are updated in the second phase.
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