State of cruises and overtourism as Barcelona plans to increase visitor fees

Cruise ships can range greatly in the number of passengers aboard various vessels that sail from port to port, and while not everyone disembarks at each destination, more cities are calling for action from cruise lines to help combat overtourism.

While Alaska works to alleviate issues of overcrowding from mega ships at popular ports, just over 5,000 miles away in the bustling Mediterranean metropolis of Barcelona, Mayor Jaume Collboni has announced new increases to the city's tourist tax for visitors arriving by cruise.

In an interview published Sunday in El Pais newspaper, as reported by Reuters, Colloboni said the city would raise the tax for stopover cruise passengers who are visiting for less than 12 hours.

The current fee is 7 euros, $7.61 USD, but the mayor did not specify the new amount, simply saying, "We are going to propose -- substantially increasing the tax for stopover cruise passengers."

He cited an "intensive use of public space without any benefit for the city and a feeling of occupation and saturation" from stopover visitors and added, "we want to have tourism that is respectful of the destination."

"We note with concern the Mayor’s statement regarding the prospect of yet another increase to the tourism tax imposed on cruise visitors. In fact, this tax on cruise visitors has already more than tripled in the last few years," a spokesperson for the Cruise Lines International Association told "GMA" in an emailed statement. "Barcelona University estimated that cruise visitors account for more than 13% of the tourism tax revenues collected by City Hall, while only 4% of visitors to the city arrive by cruise. We believe that residents would be better served by a holistic approach to tourism management and related taxes, that considers all forms of tourism."

The CLIA representative added that cruises have a unique ability "to work collaboratively with ports and destinations to put in place measures and solutions to improve the flow of tourists and ease pressures in popular areas and we have examples of this in other destinations in Europe."

Many other countries across Europe including Spain, Greece, Germany and most recently Venice, have implemented fees for foreign visitors to help support local costs of doing business, especially during the busier travel seasons like peak summer months that draw larger volumes of visitors.

"Tourist taxes are a rapidly growing trend," Clint Henderson, Managing Editor at The Points Guy, previously told "Good Morning America," adding that the fee system is increasingly popular "because it’s an easy way for cities to raise revenues without taxing local citizens. It’s also more politically palatable and it has the added benefit of helping to deal with over-tourism."

Henderson also pointed out "Crowding at especially popular spots made famous by Instagram are simply out of control."

Although cruise goers are being targeted for the tax increase in Barcelona, the CLIA said that their group and its member cruise lines "work closely with destinations to support tourism management needs while also protecting the economic benefits that cruise tourism brings to communities."

According to the CLIA , cruise tourism accounts for a small portion of overall tourism in most coastal destinations, and in Barcelona, cruise visitors comprise just 4% of all visitors.