Karlsruhe will receive a bed tax in 2025. This was passed in the municipal council by a majority of the Left, SPD, Green and KAL city council groups. This means that hoteliers will have to pay 5% of the cost of overnight stays as a tax. The tax will probably be passed on to overnight guests.
The hoteliers and the city council group Freie Wähler and FÜR Karlsruhe view the decision to introduce a bed tax with great concern.
The bed tax was passed on the grounds that the city’s infrastructure has so far been financed solely by the citizens and that tourists should now contribute to it.
Petra Lorenz, city councillor of the city council group and Karlsruhe entrepreneur, considers the council’s decision to be the wrong signal:
“We consider the decision to be the wrong measure for many reasons: the new tax is not earmarked, so it will not necessarily be reinvested in municipal tourism, but will be used to plug the city’s budget gaps.
This is not transparent.
Furthermore, the new tax means a great deal of additional bureaucracy for the hotel industry.
The billing and implementation of the tax means more working hours that cannot be used for the actual work of the hotels.”
Finally, Petra Lorenz emphasizes that the introduction of the bed tax should also benefit urban tourism:
“We appeal to those responsible to ensure that the tax revenue is used transparently and for a specific purpose in order to create added value for municipal tourism.
It is essential that the funds flow specifically into the promotion and further development of the city’s attractions and the improvement of tourism infrastructure.
The city’s hotels are in free competition with hotels outside the city, which do not have to pay bed tax.
This means more difficult conditions.
If the price of an overnight stay increases, then the attractiveness for tourists to book a hotel in Karlsruhe must also increase.”
The city council group of Freie Wähler and FÜR Karlsruhe is committed to ensuring that the city’s difficult budget situation is not alleviated with new taxes, but that priorities are set for expenditure, because Karlsruhe does not have a revenue problem, but an expenditure problem.
