Malta's tourist tax is about to rise more than fivefold. In his Budget 2027 speech to Parliament on 26 October 2026, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said the eco-contribution on hotel stays will rise from €1.50 to €8 per adult per night from 1 January 2027, with holiday lets paying €10 (TVM News, 26 October 2026).
The same speech put a price on the Blue Lagoon. The shallow, sand-floored channel between Comino and Cominotto, which held up to 12,000 people at once in summer 2024 by the Malta Tourism Authority's count, will cost non-residents €5 to land on. Cruise passengers pay €10 to step ashore, the fast ferries add €3 a crossing, and the Gozo Channel foot-passenger fare for visitors more than doubles. Below: what a 2027 beach holiday in Malta costs, which charges have a start date, and where to swim for free.
Malta's eco tax rises to €8 a night on 1 January 2027
January's rise will be the second in six months. Until 30 June 2026, adults paid €0.50 a night. On 1 July 2026 that became €1.50, capped at €22.50 per person per visit, and the Malta Tourism Authority's Environmental Contribution page still shows that rate.
KPMG Malta's summary of the budget splits the 2027 rates by type of stay:
| Accommodation | Since July 2026 (€ a night) | Cap now (€) | From 1 January 2027 (€ a night) | Cap per person, 2027 (€) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotels and other collective accommodation | 1.50 | 22.50 | 8 | 64 |
| Short-let apartments (short-term rentals) | 1.50 | 22.50 | 10 | 80 |
| Language-school accommodation | 1.50 | 22.50 | No charge | None |
Only adults pay, and TVM puts the expected revenue from the new accommodation rates at around €182 million.
These are budget announcements, not yet law, and KPMG cautions that announced measures may need legislation or legal notices before they take effect. The July 2026 rise reached the statute book through a Budget Measures Implementation Act, as the MTA page notes. On 4 November 2026 that 2026 Act was still the latest amendment to the Eco-Contribution Act on legislation.mt, and no law or legal notice setting the 2027 rates had been published. Checked November 2026.
Hotels pay €8, Airbnb-style holiday lets €10, and the cap stops at night 8
Both caps fall on the eighth night: €64 is eight nights at €8, and €80 is eight at €10. Under the July 2026 rules the €22.50 cap took 15 nights to reach.
"Short-let" is the MTA's licence category for private holiday rentals, and the higher rate for it is new: until now every licensed bed paid the same. Today the cap covers the whole visit, including combined stays on Malta and Gozo, so splitting a fortnight between a Sliema hotel and a Gozo farmhouse does not reset it. The 2027 announcement does not say how a stay mixing the two rates will be capped.
How much the Malta tourist tax adds to a holiday in 2027
The sum is adults, times nights, times the rate, up to the cap. Children are free, which is why a family pays the same as a couple.
| Who is staying | Where | Nights | Tax now (€) | Tax from 1 January 2027 (€) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Couple | Hotel | 7 | 21 | 112 |
| Couple | Hotel | 10 | 30 | 128 (cap reached) |
| Couple | Hotel | 14 | 42 | 128 (cap reached) |
| Couple | Short-let | 7 | 21 | 140 |
| Couple | Short-let | 10 | 30 | 160 (cap reached) |
| 2 adults, 2 children under 18 | Hotel | 7 | 21 | 112 |
| 2 adults, children aged 19 and 12 | Short-let | 7 | 31.50 | 210 |
The last row is the one that surprises families: a grown-up child travelling with you pays the full adult short-let rate. Under today's rules that means anyone 18 or over at the start of the visit. TVM reports Caruana saying the 2027 contribution "would apply to people aged over 18", so whether an 18-year-old pays from January will only be clear once the implementing law is published.
For scale, Fuerteventura's planned La Oliva charge would add €7.84 to a week for two in Corralejo, as our Fuerteventura tourist tax explainer sets out. Malta's 2027 hotel rate adds €112. To compare Malta's charges with caps and fees elsewhere, see our guide to Europe's beach rules and tourist taxes.
Who collects it, and whether a package price includes it
You never pay the government directly. The MTA's notice to guests says the charge is not included in the room rate: the hotel or host bills it separately, and may ask for your date of birth and a passport to prove who is under 18. It applies to every type of licensed accommodation, from hostels and B&Bs to farmhouses and villas, and to Maltese guests as well as foreign ones.
Package holidaymakers should assume it is extra: Jet2's in-resort fees page lists Malta's eco tax as "payable locally at your hotel", and on 4 November 2026 it still showed the 2026 figures. If your trip runs into January 2027, budget for the new rate whatever your confirmation says.
Trips that end before 1 January are charged at €1.50. A winter break straddling New Year is less clear: when the July 2026 rate came in, the MTA applied it to stays beginning on or after 1 July, but no equivalent rule for January 2027 has been published, so ask your hotel how it will bill a stay that crosses the date.
Comino's Blue Lagoon: free to book, with a €5 charge to come
The Blue Lagoon already runs on reservations. Since May 2025, anyone landing there by private or commercial boat has needed a free booking through bluelagooncomino.mt, with no more than 4,000 people allowed at any one time, according to the Malta Tourism Authority's notice. The system issues a QR code, which officials at the landing points swap for a wristband valid for your slot. Arriving without one can mean a fine.
Boat operators challenged the system in court and had it paused days after launch. On 14 May 2025 the court rejected their request, and Business Now reported the next day that bookings would restart on 19 May.
The MTA's launch notice sets three slots a day:
- Morning: 8am to 1pm.
- Afternoon: 1.30pm to 5.30pm.
- Evening: 6pm to 10pm.
Budget 2027 adds a €5 contribution for non-resident visitors to Comino, collected through that same booking system, according to TVM and RSM Malta's budget summary. Neither KPMG nor TVM gives a start date for it, and the MTA had published none by 4 November 2026. Checked November 2026.
Once it begins, a Comino day for a couple will cost €10 in landing charges on top of two boat tickets, which operators from Ċirkewwa and other harbours sell separately.
Gozo ferry fares rise for visitors, and foot fares more than double
The bigger change for anyone heading to Gozo is the ferry. Gozo Channel's car ferry from Ċirkewwa to Mġarr currently charges €4.65 per adult and €15.70 for a car and driver, according to its fares page. Nobody buys a ticket on the way out: drivers and foot passengers board at Ċirkewwa without one, and tickets are validated in Gozo before the crossing back, so one fare covers the round trip.
Budget 2027 raises those fares for non-residents. The first three rows are TVM's figures; the last two are our sums of them:
| Ticket (non-resident) | Now (€) | Budget 2027 (€) |
|---|---|---|
| Adult foot passenger | 4.65 | 11 |
| Child (3 to 12 on Gozo Channel's current rules) | 1.15 | 7 |
| Car and driver | 15.70 | 22 |
| Car, driver and one adult | 20.35 | 33 |
| Car, driver, one adult and one child | 21.50 | 40 |
A family of four driving over for the day, with two children aged 3 to 12, would pay €47 instead of €22.65. Two adults on foot would pay €22 instead of €9.30. Residents of Malta and Gozo are not affected.
The fast ferries are going up too. In KPMG's wording, tourist fares "on existing sea-transport services will increase by €3 per journey"; TVM and Gozo Today both report it as a rise on the fast ferry between Malta and Gozo. A return adds €6 a person to whatever the operator charges then. No start date has been published for either the Gozo Channel or the fast-ferry rises, so they may not land on 1 January with the accommodation rates. Checked November 2026.
Cruise passengers pay €10 to step ashore
Cruise visitors get their own charge: €10 each for passengers who disembark in Malta and re-board the same ship, according to KPMG and TVM. Anyone whose cruise begins in Malta is exempt. Like the Comino and ferry measures, it has no published start date, and how it will be collected, at the gangway or through the cruise line, has not been set out.
Where to swim instead of the Blue Lagoon
Malta's best sand beaches need no booking and carry no landing charge, and two of them are on the main island, a bus ride from Valletta.
Golden Bay
On Malta's northwest coast, Golden Bay is the island's second-largest sandy beach, backed by countryside in the Il-Majjistral Nature and History Park. The official Visit Malta listing credits its sunsets for the evening barbecue crowd. Easy access makes it the pick for small children and anyone who can't manage steps.
It is one of the island's most popular beaches, with a café, sunbed and parasol hire and watersports. Lifeguards are on duty daily from 15 June to 15 September, by Visit Malta's listing, so a winter swim here is unsupervised. Bus 44 runs from Valletta to Golden Bay, according to Malta Public Transport.
Għajn Tuffieħa
Next bay south, over the headland from Golden Bay, Għajn Tuffieħa is the harder of the pair to reach. Visit Malta says the beach "can only be reached down a steep flight of steps or by a gravel track", with hills and an oddly shaped promontory around the sand, and lists a lifeguard, safety ropes along the bay, sunbed and umbrella hire and a small snack bar. Malta Public Transport routes you on the same bus 44 to Golden Bay.
Għajn Tuffieħa, Golden Bay and Ramla Bay were all among the 13 Maltese beaches awarded a Blue Flag for summer 2025, announced at Golden Bay on 28 June 2025 with the MTA and Nature Trust (FEE Malta), according to the government and Malta Daily. It is the most recent list we could confirm (we found no 2026 list from Nature Trust, the MTA or the government), and the flag is awarded season by season, so check the current one before relying on it. Checked November 2026.
Ramla Bay, Gozo
Ramla l-Ħamra, below Xagħra on Gozo's north coast, takes its name from its red sand, a "deep, reddish-gold" in Visit Malta's description, which also calls it Gozo's largest sandy bay. It sits below terraced hills and Calypso's Cave, traditionally linked to the nymph in Homer's Odyssey, and its landmark is a white statue of the Virgin Mary.
Ramla is the one alternative that costs more in 2027, because it means the Gozo Channel ferry: once the new fares start, a couple driving over for the day pays €33 instead of €20.35. Base yourself on Gozo instead and you pay the crossing once.
For a late-season trip, our Mediterranean in September guide puts Malta's sea at about 26°C that month, and our pick of the best beach holidays in Europe has other coasts to weigh against it.
Book nine nights rather than seven
The cap makes length the cheapest lever you have. From January, a couple in a Malta hotel pays €112 for seven nights and €128 for nine, so the two extra nights cost €16 in eco tax between them, and every night after that costs nothing. In a short-let, seven nights cost €140 and nine cost €160.
If you are booking a winter break, finish it by 31 December and you pay €1.50 a night. For summer 2027, budget €8 a night per adult in a hotel up to €64, add €10 a couple for any Comino landing and €33 for a day on Gozo by car, and check the MTA page before you fly: the rates are announced, and the start dates for everything but the hotel tax are still to come.
