Cancun, QR. Faced with a decrease in federal transfers for 2019 by reducing taxes on the northern border, the Congress of Quintana Roo is approving, in virtually all municipalities that request it, a new charge for international tourists for environmental sanitation concept that amounts to at 24 pesos per room/night occupied.
The president of the Commission of Tourism and International Affairs in the local Congress, Gabriela Angulo Sauri, said that the state should be prepared for any downward movement that is in the federal budget and in view of this is foreseen this new collection for municipalities of Puerto Morelos, Isla Mujeres and just voted, for Benito Juárez, still remaining to be approved for the municipalities of Cozumel and Othon P. Blanco.
The deputy assured that the budget for 2019 is reserved forecast, but the announcements about the disappearance of the Tourism Promotion Council of Mexico that will affect the promotion of the entity are forcing Congress to make forecasts for the next fiscal year.
Yesterday, the State Congress approved the initiative of the local deputy Emiliano Ramos Hernández for the collection of environmental sanitation right for the municipality of Benito Juárez, despite the fact that it had been eliminated by the mayor Mara Lezama Espinoza in the Municipal Finance Law initiative that he sent for approval last month to the Legislative Power.
As of 2019, all tourists staying at a hotel in Cancun must pay 24.8 pesos per room/night during their entire stay at the destination.
Ramos Hernandez said that in the first year, this collection will mean a collection of 90 million pesos for the city council during 2019 and up to 200 million pesos in 2020.
He also chairman of the Committee on Finance, Budget and Public Account in the local Congress said that this charge does not affect either hoteliers or the population of the municipality of Benito Juárez, because the tourist is the required object; however, there will be substantial benefits, since the resources can be used in various areas, for example in the fight against sargassum or to conclude the drainage network.
He recalled that this charge is applied since 2017 in the municipality of Solidarity and although at the time generated great dissatisfaction among the hotel sector, to date has not involved any loss of competitiveness, cancellations, or any other type of impact on tourism as the entrepreneurs had warned that it would happen.
He said that in other cities of the world, charges are applied for similar concepts that are much more onerous so that any impact on the tourism industry in Cancun is ruled out.
He added that in addition to Benito Juárez, this same charge will be submitted to the full Congress as part of the analysis of the Law of the Treasury of Cozumel and Othón P. Blanco; This concept has already been approved for the municipalities of Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres.
The right to environmental sanitation approved by the state congress with 18 votes in favor and none against was eliminated by the mayoress of Cancun from the initiative of the Finance Law 2019, which was voted on November 10 at the town council meeting Benito Juárez.
The mayor yielded to the pressure exerted by the hoteliers, as they assured that they could even request protection for the impact that this new charge would have on the tourism industry in Cancun.
After eliminating the collection in the Law of Property of Benito Juárez, days later the same happened in the municipality of Othon P. Blanco.
If fulfilled by the deputy Ramos Hernandez, six of the 11 municipalities would implement this new right: Puerto Morelos, Isla Mujeres, Solidaridad, Benito Juárez, Cozumel and Othon P. Blanco.
Source: El Economista
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