The trend of increasing revenue from the tourist tax continues. According to the Jfc National Observatory, in the first six months of 2026, local authorities’ revenues exceeded 438 million euros, up 13% compared to the same period in 2025 and 30% compared to 2024.
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Driving the increase in revenue from the tax paid by tourists for each night spent in art and holiday cities is not only the rise in visitor flows: Istat data for the first three months of this year (the six-month data have not yet been published) actually show an increase of 4.2% in arrivals and 7.5% in overnight stays. However, the trend in revenues is also determined by the progressive expansion of municipalities introducing the tax and by the increase in rates in those where it already existed.
The Jfc Observatory on the tourist tax estimates that, in 2026, revenue will reach one billion and 308 million euros, compared to one billion and 150 million in 2025 (second semester earnings exceed those of the first because they include the summer months – except June – and Christmas).
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Increasingly widespread application
Since 2011, the first year in which municipalities could establish the tax, the number of local authorities that have adopted it has continuously increased, rising from the initial 13 to 1,389 in 2025 (in Rome the tourist contribution already existed thanks to a specific law, Dl 78/2010). In 2026, according to the Observatory, it will reach 1,411 municipalities. Regarding rate increases, 53 local authorities have already revised the 2026 rates upwards.
Distribution across the territory
A quarter of the national revenue goes to the Municipality of Rome. In the first six months of 2026, the Capital earned 110.6 million from the tourist tax, 2.4% more than in 2025. But it is Milan, which this year hosted the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, that is the city where revenues have risen the most, increasing from 35.5 million in 2024 to 49 million in 2025 and 65.8 million in 2026, with an 85.1% increase in three years.
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