Riga to introduce tourist tax

The Latvian capital of Riga will introduce tourist tax from 2021, the city council decided on Wednesday.

All hotels and other tourist accommodation establishments will have to pay one euro per person per night. The maximum amount of tax will be 10 euros, and those who stay longer will be exempt from the tax after ten nights.

Children younger than 12 will be exempt from the tax altogether.

The tourist tax will be used for improving the city's tourism infrastructure and promoting Riga as a tourism destination.

According to the statistics, 1.7 million tourists stayed in Riga's tourist accommodation establishments in 2018, spending 3.3 million nights altogether.

Riga municipality estimates that the amount of tourist tax will exceed three million euros a year.