Riviera Maya, Q.R. — A new $5 tax is being proposed for all cruise ship passengers into Quintana Roo. During the state’s recent 2024 Fiscal Package meeting, the Congress of Quintana Roo proposed the creation of a new cruise ship tourist fee at a rate of $5 USD per person.
The additional tax would be paid at the time of cruise ship trip purchase and collected by cruise ship companies who would then forward the payments to the state.
“The state seeks to obtain greater resources to allocate them to investment projects to improve the infrastructure of our state and to do so, it requires implementing new sources of income that will allow financing the expense that comes with the increase in visitors to the area,” the approach details.
According to Article 51 of the Law of Rights of the State of Quintana Roo, of the money that enters the state coffers, 30 percent goes to the Trust for the Attention of Natural Disasters.
Quintana Roo is one of Mexico’s states with the highest risk of hurricane impact during the Atlantic season which runs from June to November each year.
The Congress document also indicates that the new fee would compensate for the extinction of previous federal government trusts such as the Natural Disaster Fund Trust (Fonden).
The other 70 percent would be allocated to a new Trust for Tourism Infrastructure.
“(The contribution will allow the state) to obtain resources to strengthen the estates of those municipalities that receive cruise ships as well as provide immediate attention to people affected by natural disasters, or failing that, repair damage caused to the infrastructure by natural phenomena and finally face the growing tourist infrastructure,” Congress detailed.
The document adds that although the number of cruise ship arrivals around the state decreased between January 1 and October 8, 2023, (1,576 in 2022 to 1,164 so far in 2023), the number of passengers increased from 4.1 million to almost 4.3 million.
If approved, the new Right to Cruise Passengers would come into force as of the first day of January 2025.
