Switzerland’s St. Gallen Boosts Tourism Sustainability With Airbnb’s New Automatic Collection Of Tourism Taxes

Monday, July 28, 2025

Switzerland’s St. Gallen has introduced a groundbreaking strategy wherever Airbnb automatically collects tourism taxes for bookings successful 22 municipalities, simplifying nan taxation process and ensuring greater transparency. This inaugural addresses erstwhile gaps successful taxation postulation for online bookings and streamlines administrative efforts, benefiting some section tourism organizations and municipalities. By reducing complexity and expanding location tourism revenue, this exemplary offers a much sustainable and businesslike measurement of managing tourism taxes, mounting a caller modular for nan industry.

As of July 14, 2025, Airbnb has rolled retired an innovative strategy to automatically cod tourism taxes (Kurtaxen) for bookings successful nan 22 municipalities of St. Gallen Canton that person established tourism taxation regulations. This inaugural is simply a awesome measurement toward improving transparency and streamlining nan administrative processes associated pinch tourism taxation successful nan region.

Prior to this system, location was nary guarantee that tourism taxes were consistently collected for online bookings. This spread successful nan strategy has now been addressed, astatine slightest for Airbnb bookings. Under nan caller model, Airbnb collects nan tourism taxation straight from guests astatine nan clip of booking and forwards nan costs to nan respective municipalities.

The 22 municipalities benefiting from this caller strategy see Amden, Bad Ragaz, Degersheim, Ebnat-Kappel, Flums, Lütisburg, Mels, Mosnang, Neckertal, Nesslau, Pfäfers, Quarten, Rapperswil-Jona, Rorschach, Sargans, St. Gallen, Thal, Vilters-Wangs, Walenstadt, Wartau, Weesen, and Wildhaus-Alt St. Johann. These municipalities, which each person tourism taxation regulations successful place, will now acquisition a much businesslike and equitable postulation of taxes, starring to greater gross for section tourism initiatives.

This inaugural was driven by St. Gallen-Lake Constance Tourism, successful collaboration pinch nan Office for Economy and Labor of nan Canton of St. Gallen. St. Gallen-Lake Constance Tourism, representing each tourism organizations wrong nan canton, serves arsenic Airbnb’s contractual partner and plays a cardinal domiciled successful coordinating nan implementation of this caller taxation postulation model.

The caller statement marks a important advancement successful nan digitalization of tourism management. By automating nan tourism taxation postulation process, nan strategy reduces nan administrative workload for section tourism organizations, making nan process much businesslike and transparent. In summation to benefiting tourism organizations, nan caller exemplary besides benefits tourists, section work providers, and nan organization astatine ample by ensuring that tourism taxes are consistently and reasonably collected.

At present, Airbnb is nan only booking level pinch specified an statement for nan automatic postulation of tourism taxes successful St. Gallen. This exclusive statement demonstrates nan platform’s committedness to supporting sustainable tourism practices successful nan region and its collaboration pinch section authorities to heighten nan wide visitant experience.

St. Gallen, nan largest metropolis successful Eastern Switzerland, is simply a salient tourer destination. Known for its well-preserved baroque cathedral and cloister, nan metropolis is listed arsenic a UNESCO World Heritage site, adding to its entreaty for tourists. With a organization of astir 82,000, St. Gallen draws millions of visitors each year, acknowledgment to its rich | history, taste attractions, and scenic surroundings.

In 2024, nan Canton of St. Gallen recorded a full of 1.1 cardinal overnight stays. Of these, 36% were from world visitors. The region’s apical inbound markets included Germany, nan United States, Austria, Italy, and nan United Kingdom. These figures item St. Gallen’s value arsenic a cardinal destination for some leisure and business travelers.

This move by Airbnb not only supports nan region’s sustainable tourism goals but besides contributes to nan semipermanent improvement of nan section tourism infrastructure. By ensuring that tourism taxes are collected much effectively, nan inaugural provides a dependable watercourse of backing for promotional activities, which successful move will thief to boost nan attractiveness of nan canton arsenic a tourism destination.

As different municipalities and tourism platforms look to streamline their taxation postulation processes, nan occurrence of this inaugural could service arsenic a exemplary for different regions, some wrong Switzerland and internationally, wherever tourism is simply a cardinal economical driver. The collaboration betwixt Airbnb and St. Gallen-Lake Constance Tourism demonstrates really integer solutions tin play a pivotal domiciled successful enhancing nan ratio and sustainability of section tourism management.