The Congress of Quintana Roo gave official entry to the 2024 Fiscal Package, where the Executive Branch proposes the creation of a new tourist fee at a rate of 5 US dollars per person, which will be allocated to two trusts: for tourist infrastructure and for natural disaster relief.
This new fee is called “Right to Cruise Passengers”, and it must be paid at the time of purchasing the ticket, for which shipping companies or operators must collect and retain this amount.
According to article 51 of the Law of Rights of the State of Quintana Roo, of the money that enters the state coffers, 30% will go to the Trust for the Attention of Natural Disasters.
The state is one with the highest risk of hurricane impact in the Atlantic, in the period from June 1 to November 30 every year.
In addition, the document indicates that this is a measure to compensate for the extinction of trusts by the federal government, such as the Natural Disaster Fund Trust (Fonden).
The other 70% will be allocated to a new Trust for Tourism Infrastructure. Meanwhile, the municipalities of Othón P. Blanco, where the Costa Maya Port and Cozumel are located, will have participation in the collection of the fee.
It justifies that although, between January 1 and October 8, 2023, the number of arrivals at the ports of Quintana Roo was reduced, going from 1,576 last year to only 1,164, the number of passengers increased and passed from 4.1 million to almost 4.3 million.
If authorized, it proposes that the new Right to Cruise Passengers come into force as of the first day of January 2025.
The 2024 Budget Project proposed by the Executive Branch is for 47,352 million pesos and proposes increases mainly in the Secretariat of Welfare and the Secretariat of Citizen Security, which would have 1,327 million and 3,464 million pesos, respectively.
In the Welfare Secretariat the increase is 353.7 million pesos, and in Citizen Security Secretariat the increase is 909 million pesos.
TYT Newsroom
