There are different alternatives to taxing tourist activities to achieve these objectives.
The most common way is through specific taxation, normally in the form of hotel room taxes and airport entry/exit charges.
An alternative approach to increasing taxation on tourism activities is to increase
the usually low VAT rates levied on typical tourism goods and services in most countries (hotels,
restaurants, cafes, bars and similar services).
There are several reasons in favor of this second option, starting with the ongoing initiatives of the European Commission in this sense.
Moreover, the use of increased VAT rates requires no additional revenue-collecting methods,
which simplifies and reduces the administrative costs for tourism agents and governmental agencies.
And finally, the credit method nature of the EU VAT system (applied in Spain) ensures its efficiency via a neutral impact on the behavior of consumers.