To date, few studies have explored the relationship between tourism inflows and city taxes. This study investigates how the introduction of a city tax impacts on both national and international tourism demand by using the synthetic control method. The case study is based on a panel of Italian municipalities, for the time span 2006–2011. Results from estimations with the synthetic control method show that the introduction of a visitor tax leads to a decline in domestic tourism demand. In contrast, there is no effect on international tourism inflows.