Leipzig Visitor’s Tax

Tourism levy – Visitor’s tax
(The guest tax is not charged for an indefinite period!!!!)

The City of Leipzig will charge a tourism levy, a visitor’s tax, on overnight stays. Visitors are required to pay this tax in addition to the cost of accommodation!

As in many other German cities, a tourism levy, in this case a visitor’s tax, was introduced in Leipzig in 2019. This charge, which will be between €1.00 and €3.00 per person/night, is levied separately from the cost of accommodation and must be settled by the visitor at their accommodation, irrespective of whether they are tourists or business travellers (exceptions are listed below), on the date of arrival.

This is naturally quite annoying, also for us as a hostel, as we are required to “collect” the tourism levy from our guests and pass it on to the City. We were always opposed to this visitor’s tax as it means significantly more bureaucracy and unpaid work for us and is quite simply associated with higher costs for everyone involved. For instance, why should a business traveller – who will not use any of the touristic facilities in the city – pay a visitor’s tax? Why should teachers/bus drivers accompanying a school class on an excursion pay a visitor’s tax in Leipzig? Why do tradespersons working and staying in accommodation in the city have to pay a visitor’s tax? Endless questions … As things stand, guests will not receive any additional value in return for this charge. We believe it is an outrage and can only hope that at least this income will actually be invested sensibly in the touristic infrastructure and that accommodation providers will benefit through additional bookings “somewhere down the line”. But we have our grave doubts!

How the visitor’s tax is calculated:
€1.00 per person/night is charged on an accommodation price UP TO €30.00 per person/night. €3.00 per person/night is charged on an accommodation price ABOVE €30.00 per person/night. Optional extras like breakfast, late check-out or evening meals and packed lunches for groups are not included in the accommodation price and are discounted in the calculation of the charge.

The following groups are exempted from payment of the Leipzig tourism levy, i.e. the “visitor’s tax”:
–  Children and adolescents up to the age of 18
–  Schoolchildren, students and apprentices up to the age of 25
–  Severely disabled persons + their caregivers

Official information about the visitor’s tax of the city of Leipzig

The visitor’s tax is charged per person, NOT per room!

Example 1:
A bed in a dorm room costs €15.00/night. The visitor’s tax of €1.00/night is charged in addition to the accommodation, so the room costs €16.00/night. Optional extras like breakfast are discounted in the calculation of the visitor’s tax! 

Example 2: 
A complete 4-bed room costs €78.00/night, so €19.00 per person. In this case, each person would pay an additional €1.00/night in visitor’s tax, so the cost of accommodation would be €82.00/night. The situation is different if the 4-bed room is booked by 2 parents with 2 children aged under 18. In this case, each parent would pay an additional €1.00/night in visitor’s tax, so the cost of accommodation would be €80.00/night, as the children are exempted from the visitor’s tax. Optional extras like breakfast or late check-out are discounted in the calculation of the visitor’s tax! 

Example 3:
A double room costs €54.00/night, so €27.00 per person. In this case, each person would pay an additional €1.00/night in visitor’s tax, so the cost of accommodation would be €56.00/night. Optional extras like breakfast or late check-out are discounted in the calculation of the visitor’s tax!

Example 4:
A double room costs €90.00/night during a trade fair, so €45.00 per person. In this case, each person would pay an additional €3.00/night in visitor’s tax, so the cost of accommodation would be €96.00/night. Optional extras like breakfast or late check-out are discounted in the calculation of the visitor’s tax!

Example 5:
A group of schoolchildren, apprentices or students aged up to 25 and 4 accompanying persons (teachers, professors, bus driver, coach or similar) would like to spend 3 nights in the city. In this case, the visitor’s tax of €1.00 per person/night only applies to the accompanying persons and is therefore €3.00 per accompanying person for 3 nights, or €12.00 in total for all accompanying persons. Optional extras like breakfast, packed lunches or evening meals are discounted in the calculation of the visitor’s tax!

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