The Florence and Venice group and Airbnb’s “contribution”

In the coffers of the municipality of Florence, from 2017 to 2020, 130.7 million euros of tourism tax ended up. In the same period, revenue collected by the municipality of Venice was 117.4 million. investigating in other economy On how the most important Italian tourist cities invest the proceeds of the tourism tax. Adding the amount recorded in the two cities to the resources collected by Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples, Genoa and Bologna, we come to a total of €940 million. Resources are drawn from accommodation and additional accommodation facilities and, in the case of an agreement with the municipality, also from short-term rental platforms including Airbnb. As in the case of Florence and 23 other Italian cities, but not Venice.

In the capital of Tuscany in 2019 (before the epidemic that reduced tourist arrivals to Italy by 69%, according to statistics), 41.5 million euros were collected, down to 15.1 million in 2020. In 2017, revenue was 32.2 million and 41.9 million in 2018. The municipality did not specify the breakdown by structures, stating that “2017 revenue is derived from 90% of residential facilities and the remaining 10% from non-receiving buildings, while for 2018, 2019, 2020, revenue comes, in addition to Airbnb, For 94% of receiving organizations and 6% of non-receiving structures.” Data on the amount paid to the municipality by the short-term rental company can only be obtained as of 2018, the year of implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the municipality: in 2018, $6.8 million was paid by Airbnb, in 2019 7.3 million and in 2020 838 thousand euros.

The municipality of Florence has used the resources derived from the tourist tax to support cultural institutions and events, in accordance with the provisions of Legislative Decree 23/2011 which stipulates that the revenue must be used to finance interventions in the field of tourism, conservation, restoration of environmental and cultural heritage. From 2017 to 2020, the foundation with the most funding, with a total of 15.7 million, was the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Foundation. Vieusseux Institute (3.3 million), Palazzo Strozzi Foundation (2.5 million), Teatro della Pergola (5.2 million), Marino Marini Museum (682 thousand euros), Stiebert Museum (975 thousand euros), Puccini Theater (195). thousand euros). There are also “tourist information and conference tourism promotion” services, “contributions to institutions working in the field of culture, fashion and tourism”, “tree heritage maintenance” and “local public transport management fees”.

In Venice from 2017 to 2020, the municipality instead collected 117.4 million euros from the tourism tax as mentioned. In 2017, revenue was 30.9 million, of which 25 million were from hotels and 6.7 were from non-hotel facilities. In 2018, the resources obtained amounted to 34.2 million (24.3 hotels and 8.7 non-hotel facilities) and in 2019 37.8 million (24.6 hotels and 12.4 non-hotel facilities) were collected. In 2020, revenue was 14.5 million (5.8 from hotels and 2.7 from non-hotel facilities). Derivatives cannot be obtained from platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com as there are no memoranda of understanding between them and the municipality.

As for its destination, the tax was used mainly for “interventions in the field of tourism”. Highest spending in the four years analyzed: 10.9 million in 2017, 15.3 million in 2018, 17.2 million in 2019 and 11.2 million in 2020 which includes, three items, the “cost share” of municipal police operators engaged in activities Control and supervision of tourist areas in the historic center, cost of “tourism and tradition protection operators”, “Maintenance of racing boats and participation in regattas, rowing and tourism events”. This is followed by “contributions to national and international sporting events” and the organization of events in cooperation with Vela, the local Venetian public transport company. There are also interventions for the use and recovery of cultural and environmental assets, including “tree heritage conservation,” the cost of operators of cultural and film activities and productions, and “theatrical, cultural and library asset use” services.

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