The state of Quintana Roo in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, home to the beautiful white sandy resorts of Cancun and Tulum, will start charging visitors a new visitors tax. The money collected from the tax is meant to be used to support tourism jobs in the region, devastated by the economic and tourism crisis that resulted from the pandemic.
According to the British news outlet The Independent, the state of Quintana Roo will begin charging a fee of 224 MXN pesos, about 9.25 euros, per tourist as of April 1st this year.
The tax will apply to all international visitors over the age of 15 and will be collected upon departure. If preferred, tourists can pay the new tax in advance, through a new website to be launched in the meantime called Visitax, or when booking their trip, with the travel agency. They can also pay during their stay, or else they will then be charged when they leave Quintana Roo. There are also posts for this purpose at Cancun International Airport where one will be able to pay in cash.
The only exemption will be granted to visitors from Belize who very often cross the border to visit the town of Chetumal. They will get a 10 per cent discount.
