Cruise ship passengers visiting Dubrovnik to pay daily tax

10 March 2019 – All guests arriving in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik on a cruise ship will be subject to a new tax from 2021.

Each cruise ship passengers arriving in Dubrovnik will have to pay a tax of €1 per day from 2021, Dubrovnik mayor Mato Frankovic told daily Jutarnji List at the world’s leading travel trade s, ITB, in Berlin during the week. 

With close to €1 million expected to be collected in revenues from the new tax, Franković says the money will be used to improve infrastructure in the city and transport systems. The mayor also announced that there would be a further increases to the tax for those who rent properties during the tourist season. 

This is the second hit recently for cruisers by the Dubrovnik authorities who are also looking at ways to deal with overcrowding problems. 

This year a maximum of two cruise ships, with no more than 5,000 passengers, will be allowed to dock daily in Dubrovnik. 

“Contracts with cruise ship companies. During the week from Monday to Sunday, a maximum of two cruise ships will arrive daily. Sometimes there will be only one cruise ship, and sometimes two cruise ships will arrive at the same time, or one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but we will have a maximum of two a day,” Frankovic said earlier.

Dubrovnik has been under pressure to introduce measures to deal with overcrowding, including from UNESCO who even considered to revoke Dubrovnik’s World Heritage status if action was not taken.

In 2017, after UNESCO’s recommendation, Dubrovnik imposed restrictions so not more than 8,000 people at any one time could enter the Old Town. This has now been further cut to 5,000 people.