The collection of the much-debated tourist tax has been delayed by one month until December 2017.
This is to allow more time to finalise the rules on how the tax will be actually be collected – via airlines, hotels, individuals, etc.
Genaro Ruiz, State Tourism Secretary has been made very clear that 95% of the money will be used as a development lever to fund social infrastructure projects like housing, lighting, and security:
“We cannot have a top -level luxury, tourist destination, if local services are at a third world level.”
The state government has agreed that use of the funds will be completely transparent, and they will be held accountable for all spending.
With a projected arrival this year of 2 million tourists in Los Cabos, the 350 peso per-person tax could raise as much $700 million pesos per year (almost $40 million US dollars at current rates).
If the Government do as promised, a lot of good things could be done with this money. It’s roughy $20 for you as a tourist. But it could be the difference of a house, a school, or running water, for a kid here in Cabo. Nobody can say that is a bad thing...