A trip to Zakopane will be cheaper? The resort must bear the fee
There is a decision on the local fee in Zakopane. According to the court, the resort has no right to collect additional funds from guests.
Since 2008, Zakopane has been charged from tourists with the so -called local fee. Thanks to the intervention of the Katowice councilor and activist Patryk Białas, this can soon change. The court ruled that the tax was collected from guests illegally, but the mayor of the resort did not agree with the decision and announces another appeal. The amount of the fee is PLN 2 per person per night, and although it seems little, in the case of a family coming on a trip to the Tatra Mountains for a week, expenses are significant.
Zakopane must bear the fee
The Supreme Administrative Court again stated that Zakopane had no legal basis to charge a local fee from tourists, which began in 2008. The councilor Patryk Białas, who decided to challenge the municipality, noticed inconsistency for the first time. “This is not only my win, but the victory of all tourists and residents who expect transparent and legal actions from local governments. The verdict shows that there is no place for creative interpretations of the law,” wrote Białas in social media after the judgment was announced. However, this story has a continuation.
The mayor does not agree
Although the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court ending a few years of the commune’s dispute with activists is final, officials do not intend to give up and want to maintain the applicable tax in the amount of two zlotys per person per night. “It was only a complaint about a tax interpretation. It is an individual case of this person. We can still charge a local fee based on a resolution from 2013,” says the mayor of Zakopane Łukasz Filipowicz.
It is not yet known when and how the change in regulations will realistically affect tourists’ stays in Zakopane. The possibility of saving several dozen zlotys on a weekly family vacation would certainly accept many of them with a relief. Hoteliers themselves would also benefit from the changes, who would no longer have to explain the obligation imposed by the city to the guests.
