The Azorean Local Accommodations Association (ALA) continues to criticize the application of tourist taxes in the archipelago.
In a statement that takes stock of 2024, ALA recalls the 2nd Meeting of Local Accommodation in the Azores, which took place in Angra do Heroísmo, where the association’s president, João Pinheiro, argued that this was not the “right time” to create a tourist tax in São Miguel, a situation that was under debate.
The Association of Municipalities of São Miguel Island eventually decided to apply the tourist tax, which has been in place in Ponta Delgada, Ribeira Grande, and Lagoa since the beginning of this month.
“Its implementation is yet another bureaucratic process imposed on already weakened micro-entrepreneurs, who will have to deal with its collection, with all the bureaucracy that this will entail,” the association laments about the measure that has not yet been adopted by other regional municipalities.
“If it were only implemented in 2026, instead of being applied ‘hastily’ at the beginning of 2025, there would be time to prepare for the publication of regulations in all municipalities, review and correct errors in existing regulations, as well as define clear rules adapted to the reality of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, which, unfortunately, is not going to happen,” ALA stresses.
The president of the ALA has already argued that the tourist tax is applied to mass tourism, and there are “all the conditions for us to have a specific tourist tax for the Azores and not just import any tax.” He added that, if it existed, the tax should be “charged on entry to the Azores and not on accommodation.”

However, the ALA stresses that it has always maintained that there is no need for a tourist tax.
In the same press release, the association recalls that one of the sector’s “main achievements was obtaining a guarantee from the Government of the Azores that the Extraordinary Local Accommodation Contribution (CEAL), included at national level in the Mais Habitação Program, would not be applied to the Region”.
João Pinheiro has been refuting the idea that local accommodation is a cause of the region’s housing problems.
The local accommodation segment in the Azores exceeded 1.28 million overnight stays by the end of August, registering a 14.9% growth compared to the same period in 2023.
“For the ALA, this milestone reflects the solidity and continuous development of the sector, driven by tourists from abroad, who contributed 997,600 overnight stays (an increase of 16.4% compared to 2023), while domestic tourists accounted for 287,000 overnight stays (an increase of 9.8%),” the association points out.

in Diário Insualr, José Lourenço-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.