Could Lanzarote Tourists Be Asked to Pay a Tourist Tax? New Study Reveals What Visitors Would Accept
A new study has put a figure on what holidaymakers might be prepared to pay if the Canary Islands introduced a tourist tax – and Lanzarote visitors are slightly more willing than the average visitor to accept the idea.
The possibility of a tourist tax in Lanzarote has been debated for some time, but a newly published academic study has added some interesting numbers to the conversation.
Researchers from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) have examined the willingness of tourists to pay an additional charge for each night of their stay in the Canary Islands.
Their modelling suggests that €2 per person, per night could represent a potential sweet spot – generating substantial revenue without pushing too many visitors beyond what they say they would be prepared to pay.
But there is an important point for anyone booking a holiday to Lanzarote: this does not mean a €2 tourist tax has been introduced.
There is currently no €2-per-night Canary Islands tourist tax that holidaymakers arriving in Lanzarote have to pay.
How much could a Canary Islands tourist tax raise?
The study analysed responses from 35,377 tourists collected through the Canary Islands Tourist Expenditure Survey between the second quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.
The researchers then used their statistical model to estimate how different levels of tourist tax could affect willingness to pay.
At €2 per person per night, the model estimates that around 52% of visitors would accept the charge.
If applied across a tourism market of approximately 15 million visitors a year, the researchers estimate that a voluntary €2 nightly charge could potentially generate around €131 million annually.
That could make a tourist tax an attractive source of funding for a destination dealing with the costs associated with millions of visitors each year.
However, increasing the charge doesn’t necessarily mean proportionally increasing the money collected.
The study found that willingness to pay falls as the nightly amount increases.
What would a €2 tourist tax mean for a holiday in Lanzarote?
For holidaymakers, €2 might sound relatively small.
For example, if a tourist tax were ever introduced at that level and applied to everyone in the same way:
- One person staying 7 nights: €14
- Two people staying 7 nights: €28
- A family of four staying 7 nights: €56
These are simply examples based on the figure examined in the study. They do not represent a proposed or current Lanzarote tourist tax.
The researchers’ results suggest that a significant proportion of visitors would tolerate a relatively small nightly charge, but support becomes more complicated when the cost accumulates over longer holidays.
Lanzarote ranks surprisingly highly
Perhaps the most interesting finding for those of us in Lanzarote is the island-by-island comparison.
According to the survey results, 53.7% of visitors to Lanzarote said they were willing to pay a tourist tax.
That puts Lanzarote slightly ahead of several other major tourist islands.
The figures reported for direct acceptance were:
Canary Island
Visitors willing to pay
La Palma
69.3%
Tenerife
53.8%
Lanzarote
53.7%
Fuerteventura
53.1%
Gran Canaria
51.4%
So, while Lanzarote isn’t at the top of the table, more than half of surveyed visitors said they would be prepared to pay a tourist tax.
That is particularly interesting given how dependent the island is on tourism.
Not all tourists think the same way
The research also found significant differences depending on where visitors came from.
After taking other factors into account, tourists from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands were among those more likely to accept a tourist tax.
Visitors from Spain, Italy, the UK and Ireland were less likely to support paying one. Household income also played a role, with higher-income tourists generally showing greater willingness to contribute.
For Lanzarote, where British tourists make up an important part of the visitor market, that particular finding could make any future discussion around a Lanzarote tourist tax especially interesting.
Your choice of accommodation could make a difference
The study also discovered that where visitors stay can influence their attitude towards a tourist tax.
People staying in five-star hotels were more likely to be willing to pay, while those staying with friends or relatives without paying for accommodation were less inclined to contribute.
Length of stay was another factor.
The longer someone stayed, the less willing they generally became to accept an additional nightly charge.
That makes sense from a holidaymaker’s point of view. A couple paying €2 each for a week would face an additional €28, while the same charge over a two- or three-week stay would become considerably more noticeable.
Where would tourists want the money to go?
Perhaps the most important part of the debate isn’t actually the amount.
It’s what happens to the money.
The Canary Islands tourism survey found that environmental protection was particularly important to visitors. Some tourists indicated that they would be more willing to pay if the money was specifically used to improve and protect the environment.
That could be particularly relevant to Lanzarote, an island where the natural environment is one of its biggest attractions.
From the volcanic landscapes of Timanfaya to the beaches, coastline and protected areas, tourism depends heavily on maintaining the island’s environment.
Visitors also expressed support for using revenue to improve residents’ quality of life, develop the local economy and improve tourist areas.
In other words, people appear more receptive to paying when they can see a clear benefit.
So, is there a tourist tax in Lanzarote?
No – not a €2-per-person-per-night tax.
The study is an analysis of what tourists might be willing to pay. It is not legislation introducing a new tourist tax in Lanzarote or anywhere else across the Canary Islands.
The Canary Islands Statistics Institute (ISTAC) has been collecting data on tourists’ attitudes towards a possible tourist tax, including whether they would pay, how much they might pay and whether a tax could influence their choice of destination. The specific tourist-tax module covered the period from the second quarter of 2024 through the third quarter of 2025.
There has also been a wider debate about tourism taxation in the Canary Islands, including municipal initiatives elsewhere in the archipelago, but that should not be confused with the introduction of a general Lanzarote tourist tax.
Would a tourist tax actually affect Lanzarote holidays?
That’s likely to become one of the biggest questions if the debate continues.
For many tourists, an extra couple of euros per night may not be enough to change their decision to visit Lanzarote.
But the principle could be more controversial than the amount.
Would holidaymakers accept paying a small contribution if they knew it was being invested directly into Lanzarote’s beaches, roads, public spaces, environmental protection and tourist infrastructure?
And would residents support the idea if it helped reduce some of the costs associated with welcoming millions of visitors?
Those are much bigger questions than simply asking whether people would pay €1 or €2.
For now, anyone planning a holiday in Lanzarote does not need to add a €2 nightly tourist tax to their holiday budget.
But this new research gives policymakers something very useful: an indication of what visitors themselves say they would be prepared to contribute.
And with tourism continuing to play such an enormous role in the Canary Islands economy, the tourist tax debate in Lanzarote and across the Canary Islands is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
