A record 18 million visitors and still no tourist tax. The Canary Islands try something else

The Canary Islands will not introduce a tourist tax. Instead, the regional government announced REGNEXT on 29 June 2026, a fund that visitors can contribute to voluntarily. The money goes to environmental and community projects across the archipelago. The announcement was made together with the Spanish Tourist Office in the UK.

REGNEXT stands for the Canary Islands Tourism Regeneration and Nature Restoration Fund. It covers all seven islands: Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro.

How REGNEXT works

Visitors, travel companies and climate foundations can contribute voluntarily. Contributions will be made online and allocated to named projects, including habitat restoration, biodiversity conservation, emissions reduction, climate adaptation and affordable housing. Travel companies including TUI, Jet2 and easyJet holidays are reported to be involved.

The system is still being designed. The government has not yet announced a launch date, suggested contribution amounts, or how contributions will be integrated into the booking process. We will report on these details once they are confirmed.

For hosts and platforms, nothing changes. REGNEXT is a donation and creates no collection obligation, no registration requirement, and no action for accommodation providers. Existing local charges, such as the daily visitor fee in Mogán on Gran Canaria, are not affected.

Our take: taxes don't stop tourists

Voluntary visitor contribution schemes are not new. Several destinations already run donation or visitor giving programmes alongside or instead of a levy. What makes REGNEXT interesting is not the mechanism but the signal.

Tourist taxes are usually sold as a tool against overtourism: raise the price, and visitor numbers will fall. The Canary Islands received a record 18.39 million visitors in 2025, face regular protests against mass tourism, and still chose not to introduce a tax. That is a government implicitly saying it does not believe a tax reduces visitor numbers.

The evidence supports that view. Amsterdam has raised its tourist tax repeatedly and now charges the highest rate in Europe, yet visitor numbers have kept rising. At most, a high tax moves overnight stays to neighbouring municipalities, while the visitors themselves still spend their days in the city. In practice, tourist taxes work as revenue instruments, not as deterrents. The Canary Islands have simply dropped the pretence and gone straight for the funding question.

That leaves the real test: money. No major destination has yet shown that voluntary contributions can raise anything close to what a mandatory levy collects. If REGNEXT underdelivers, expect the tax debate to return to the islands. Either way, this is one of the more honest experiments in destination funding, and we will be watching the results.

What this means going forward

Trippz monitors tourist tax developments across 60+ countries. If the Canary Islands ever introduce a mandatory tourist tax, it will be added to the platform automatically and hosts will not need to configure anything. For the current rules across Spanish regions, see the Trippz tourist tax guide for Spain.

Sources

The Independent: Canary Islands launch voluntary alternative to tourist tax