Marmaris is considering imposing a Venice-style tourist tax as it struggles to cope with an influx of hundreds of thousands of tourists.

The British tourist haven only has a population of 96,000 people, but that figure rockets up to between 550,000 and 800,000 each summer. Now the Mediterranean town’s Mayor, Acar Ünlü, has called for urgent action.

Mr Ünlü announced that work has begun to collect taxes from tourists visiting the city with a “City Tax” model similar one introduced in Venice, Italy

He stated that Marmaris has to manage services when the population increases approximately eightfold in the summer months. He emphasized that this situation is unsustainable with the current budget and planning.

He added: “We receive planning and budgets according to a population of 96,000 people, but the population in the summer, the average is 800,000, and the average is 500,000 throughout the year.. This is not a situation that Marmaris can handle with its local budget. We think that tourists should contribute in return for benefiting from municipal services.”

Stating that various methods are being evaluated on how the City Tax will be implemented, Mr Ünlü tourists could be encouraged to contribute to the city through tools such as base stations and credit card usage.

It is planned to collect a tax based on the nightly population of tourists staying in the city. There is no clear figure yet on the proposed tax amount.

Mr Ünlü also added that a portion of the Motor Vehicle Tax (MTV) revenues should be shared with the Marmaris Municipality.

While Mr Ünlü acknowledged that tourists contribute to the region by leaving foreign currency and indirectly creating employment, he stated their use of municipal services should not be free of charge.

The number of tourists visiting Turkiye broke all records last year, Up to November 2024, 50 million foreigners had visited, including a record 4.3 million Britons.

In many tourist centers in Europe, tourists staying in hotels are charged a tax ranging from 1 to 5 euros under the name of city tax. While the tax is collected from the operator in Belgium, tourists pay the fee themselves in countries such as France, Bulgaria, Austria and Italy. According to a plan approved by the City Council of Venice, a fee of 5 euros will be charged for daily entrance to the city during peak periods.