Taxing turistas
South of border squeeze

By Jenalia Moreno
Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle
Reprinted with permission
Article date: July 3, 1999
 

As they waited for a flight to Mexico City that was delayed for hours, Carole Jaroch and her friends learned they had to shell out an additional $15 each when they finally arrived in Mexico.

For most Americans flying from Bush Intercontinental Airport, the tourist tax Mexico began charging Thursday was either an annoyance or just a small price to pay for a low-budget vacation.

"We don't like it," said Jaroch, a Warsaw, Ind., resident en route to a nephew's wedding this weekend.

"That's a drink," joked Stan Wagner of St. Cloud, Minn., one of four friends traveling with Jaroch, said of the $15 charge.

To Mexico, the 150-peso fee now charged to business travelers and most tourists means it can recoup at least $60 million this year from the income it lost when oil prices plunged last year. Next year, the fee could raise twice that much.

This fee, which kicks in on a long holiday weekend when many migrant workers and Mexicans living in the United States return home, set off a controversy when it was approved in December.

Since then, Mexico has created a list of exceptions to the tax, including an exemption for Mexicans now living in the United States.

For the millions of native Mexicans who recently became American citizens, that exception meant they had to obtain papers proving their dual citizenship to avoid paying the fee.

In the Consulate General of Mexico's office in southwest Houston, 30 to 40 people each day have been lining up for this paperwork in the past month. Typically, only eight people each day need this service, said spokesman Marco Dosal.

"It's part of the benefits of dual citizenship," said Dosal. "You're American when it benefits you, you're Mexican when it benefits you."

The $15 visitors fee was another reflection of how important tourism has become for the Mexican economy. Historically, oil exports had generated the most money for Mexico, but last year tourism edged ahead of oil.

This new tax pays for modernizing immigration services and tourism promotion to handle the ever-increasing number of travelers, government officials said.

More than 19 million visitors traveled to Mexico's interior last year by bus, airplane or car.

Those travelers must pay the new fee at banks located on the border if they plan to travel 16 miles beyond the border. For airline passengers, the tax is added to the airfare, which will affect nearly 2 million people who fly annually from Houston on its
227 flights a week south of the border.

The fee will not apply to the nearly 74 million people spending less than a day in the country after crossing its border or arriving by cruise ship.

Government officials said they don't expect the new tax to dissuade tourists from traveling to Mexico.

"We expect the negative impact of this duty on tourist flows to be minimal," said Oscar Espinosa Villarreal, Mexico's minister of tourism, during a visit to Houston earlier this year.

Tourists agreed.

"I'd prefer not to pay it, but it doesn't mean I won't go just because of the $15," said Kathy Gobble, a Springfield, Ill., resident who returned Thursday from a vacation in Guadalajara and the beach resort of Puerto Vallarta.

While the tax may increase the cost of a family vacation to Mexico, business travelers said it won't stop them from flying to Mexico.

"It's just the cost of doing business," said Henry A. de La Garza, owner of de La Garza public relations, which operates an office in Mexico City. "In the whole scheme of things, it's chump change."

The tax is only assessed once every six months, no matter how many trips U.S. citizens make to Mexico.

Tourists waiting for flights Thursday said Mexico made the move in retaliation for similar charges by the United States.

Adriana Canizares, a native of Puebla now living in Houston, said she pays a $6 tax to enter the United States and her 19-year-old daughter Laurette pays $15 to enter Mexico.

For Mexican residents, a $6 fee assessed by the United States is hefty since the minimum wage is slightly more than $3 a day.

Who is affected?

Mexico began charging a $15 tourist tax Thursday. Here are the rules for determining who pays and who doesn't.

Traveling by air. The fee is included in your airfare.

Staying longer than 72 hours and proceeding beyond the 16-mile checkpoint.

Mexican citizens.

Arriving by cruise ship or entering by land and staying less than 72 hours.

Crossing into Mexico, but not traveling into the interior of the country, defined as more than 16 miles beyond the border.

Distinguished visitors or diplomats.

Only traveling to the following areas:

Tijuana-Ensenada in Baja California.

San Felipe Tourism Development Zone in Baja California.

Sonoita-Puerto Penasco in Sonora.

Juarez City-Paquime in Chihuahua.

Piedras Negras-Santa Rosa in Coahuila.

Reynosa-China-Presa Cuchiyo in Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.
 

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