The 2026 municipal tourist tax (Kurabgabe/ostseecard) is charged per person per stay-day, including VAT. For Grömitz/Lensterstrand, the adult rate is EUR 4.00 in high season (1 April–31 October and 25 December–3 January) and EUR 2.50 in low season (4 January–31 March and 1 November–24 December). The annual ostseecard is EUR 112.00; the reduced annual rate is EUR 70.00. In the other recreational areas, the corresponding rates are EUR 2.50 high season and EUR 1.80 low season; annual cards are EUR 70.00 and reduced EUR 50.40. Day visitors pay EUR 4.00 high season or EUR 2.50 low season. The 1–3 January 2026 transition rate was EUR 2.00 in Grömitz/Lensterstrand and EUR 1.40 in the other recreational areas. The ordinance says the arrival day is not charged, although arrival and departure count as stay days for the assessment rule.
Exempt/not subject: people temporarily present for work, professional duties or training (or regularly present because of employment/training) when they do not use the facilities or use is part of their duties; people who can medically prove they cannot leave their accommodation, for the physical period of inability, and people unable for psychological reasons to use spa facilities or attend events; and conference/congress participants if the event is registered in advance and they do not use the facilities. No charge is also granted to children and young people under 18; on application, certain relatives of residents staying free of charge and not using the facilities; and persons with a proven disability degree of at least 80, plus a permanent accompanying person where the disability pass carries marker B. Discounts: 50% for groups/business outings of at least 20 people on prior application, and 10% for eligible medical rehabilitation/cure-clinic stays on prior application. Exemptions must be evidenced; hosts may not grant discounts themselves.
The ordinance covers short-term accommodation providers including guest-room/holiday-rental landlords and their agents, owners or permanent users who provide dwelling units to third parties, camping/mobile-home/tent operators, hostels and similar homes, and operators/owners offering paid overnight berths on water. Each host must register every taxable guest through the mandatory online process, issue an ostseecard to every person (including children), and record first and last name, arrival/departure dates, home address and nationality; foreign guests must sign electronically or by hand. Data must be transmitted immediately and no later than the day after arrival. Hosts calculate and collect the tax, remit it within 14 days of invoicing, keep a guest register or organized rental-contract evidence, and retain it under the applicable tax-record rules. The ordinance specifies no registration-number requirement for short-term rentals and does not itself state a Wohnraumschutz or Zweckentfremdungsverbot permit requirement. A host/address change must be reported in writing within two weeks. A written hardship application may obtain an exemption from online transmission; otherwise paper records are due within five working days after departure.