Am I the only person who didn’t know that Quintana Roo, Mexico, has a mandatory tourist tax? Well, it’s not so straightforward, and I find the execution of this to be really strange.
In this post:
Mexico’s Visitax is a mandatory fee, not a scam?
We just spent a few nights near Cancun, Mexico, as a family (as one does in August… I’ll explain in a separate post). The trip went smoothly, and entering and departing Cancun Airport (CUN) was super straightforward.
Mexico has few travel restrictions for those from the United States, so I didn’t do any specific research before the trip, given how often I’ve been to Mexico. Our arrival experience was smooth, and on departure, as we proceeded toward security, there was someone in a vest yelling “Visitax, Visitax, Visitax.”
I didn’t know what this was, as I had never heard of it, and I wondered if we needed some sort of a departure form, or something (based on how he was pronouncing it, I didn’t catch the “tax” part of it). To be clear, he wasn’t pulling people over, but was just trying to engage with passengers. So I stopped and talked to the guy.
He explained that Visitax is a mandatory fee for tourists. I was confused:
- Typically if there’s a mandatory tourist fee, it’s checked by authorities, or you’re alerted to it prior to travel
- I asked if it was included with the airline ticket purchase, and his answer was vague, and he said most people have already paid this before travel, when they book their ticket
- This wasn’t a police officer or immigration officer, and Cancun Airport has quite a few people trying to sell you things (mostly time shares), so we kind of just assumed that this is what that was, and we kept walking, without further issue
Since we were traveling as a family, we had our hands full, and I didn’t think much of this until we returned to Miami, at which point I figured I’d Google this Visitax thing, out of curiosity.
Visitax is required, but enforcement is non-existent?
As it turns out, visitors to Quintana Roo, Mexico, need to pay the Visitax, which is intended to “mitigate the impact on the beaches and natural reserves” that tourism has. The fee is 283 MXP (15 USD) per person, and it can be paid through the official site. There are also all kinds of third party sites that try to seem official, but really just want to charge you more.
The fee has reportedly been around since 2020, though I haven’t been to Cancun since then, and this is the first time I had heard of it.
But here’s what I find so strange — nowhere during my travel planning did I see any mention of the Visitax requirement, unlike so many other tourism fees. Furthermore, the government is really vague about when you need to pay it, as you can pay it before departure, while you’re in Mexico, or on departure.
Furthermore, as far as I can tell, there aren’t actually really checks of whether you paid the fee or not, as it’s linked to your passport. No one at immigration told us about this, or asked if we had paid this tax.
Officially, there are threats that you could be fined or denied entry to Mexico if you don’t pay this, though based on looking at online discussions, enforcement appears to be virtually non-existent, and most people believe those are just empty threats (again, I can’t personally vouch for that, but can only share my own experience). But I imagine a large percentage of tourists don’t pay this and don’t realize they’re not paying it, as I only found out because I chose to stop and talk to someone.
So while the concept of taxes for visitors happens all over the world, this is the strangest and least mandatory “mandatory fee” I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never seen anything quite like this in terms of lack of creating awareness and enforcing payment… though maybe that’s just me? Does anyone have a different take on this Visitax situation?
Bottom line
As it turns out, Quintana Roo, Mexico (the Riviera Maya area) has a mandatory tourist tax, named Visitax. The catch is that there’s little awareness around this, and also seemingly limited enforcement of whether or not people pay this. While I’ve seen a lot of destinations with tourist taxes, I’ve never seen one with such non-existent enforcement.
Has anyone else experienced this strange Visitax concept, and is there something I’m missing?
If they just required airlines to include it in the ticket price they could collect more money and eliminate the confusion. They cannot do it because there are a few exceptions to paying the tax (Mexican resident, diplomat,...). What they should do is force it to be included in the ticket price and instead of having the current Visitax infrastructure at the airport try to collect the tax from everyone, use that infrastructure to give...
If they just required airlines to include it in the ticket price they could collect more money and eliminate the confusion. They cannot do it because there are a few exceptions to paying the tax (Mexican resident, diplomat,...). What they should do is force it to be included in the ticket price and instead of having the current Visitax infrastructure at the airport try to collect the tax from everyone, use that infrastructure to give refunds to those who qualify for an exemption, then if you don't bother to claim your refund you lose they win.
My daughter traveled to Cancun 2 years ago on United. I found out about the Visitax in advance and had her pay it, but I believe United also mentioned it in their itinerary specific travel requirements.
It's s scam. Nobody pays it except naive fools. The money collected goes to a Mexican expat living in Canada who runs the scam. He hires a small army of minions to swarm the departure hall in CUN all wearing official-looking uniforms who try to snag as many gullible suckers as they can. A few idiots pay them. These guys are not government employees and the national and state government get nothing from them, all...
It's s scam. Nobody pays it except naive fools. The money collected goes to a Mexican expat living in Canada who runs the scam. He hires a small army of minions to swarm the departure hall in CUN all wearing official-looking uniforms who try to snag as many gullible suckers as they can. A few idiots pay them. These guys are not government employees and the national and state government get nothing from them, all the money collected goes to the private for-profit company set up to skim the loot. Officials shrug and look the other way, but will never enforce the shakedown because it's a private for-profit scam (as opposed to a government shakedown).
When one of these scammers tries to get in your face, you can laugh at them, shake your head, spit out a quick "sorry señior, no espekka español!" and just calmly walk right past them with a smile. The scammers will simply turn away and look for their next clueless sucker.
Very few people pay these guys off, most people have enough common sense to know it's a scam. Ask any experienced traveler, they'll tell you they just ignore these guys (or laugh at them) and just walk right past them.
Yes, it is weird. People should pay it, but...I have no idea why they can't enforce it. If they paid officers to enforce this the way Frontier pays agents to generate bag fees, they would be swimming in fines.
I went to Cancun last year and don't remember paying this tax. If I did, it wasn't to anybody hawking at the airport.
Saw this too on a recent trip to CUN and was wondering what it is. Mystery solved.
Separately, if you go through a regular immigration desk on arrival, you get a stamp in your passport. If you choose to use the automated gates instead, you get a small piece of paper. These are typically (but not always) collected at checkin or boarding when you’re leaving… If you don’t have one, you’re likely to miss...
Saw this too on a recent trip to CUN and was wondering what it is. Mystery solved.
Separately, if you go through a regular immigration desk on arrival, you get a stamp in your passport. If you choose to use the automated gates instead, you get a small piece of paper. These are typically (but not always) collected at checkin or boarding when you’re leaving… If you don’t have one, you’re likely to miss your flight - unless you can quickly get a replacement at an immigration office that’s landslide (for around $30). Such an annoying and unnecessary thing.
Really, with the sargassum invasion, spike in crime and overdevelopment of the coast, there’s little reason to visit this part of Mexico…
Lucky you nailed it. The fee has been around for several years now, and the story remains the same (I’ve passed through CUN around 20 times in this timeframe).
For whatever reason, while the fee is legally mandatory, they can’t get the airport owner ASUR, the airlines, or hotels to collect/enforce the fee.
It’s even become a point of contention in travel circles, with cult-like FB travel group leaders banning members that say...
Lucky you nailed it. The fee has been around for several years now, and the story remains the same (I’ve passed through CUN around 20 times in this timeframe).
For whatever reason, while the fee is legally mandatory, they can’t get the airport owner ASUR, the airlines, or hotels to collect/enforce the fee.
It’s even become a point of contention in travel circles, with cult-like FB travel group leaders banning members that say there’s no need or reason to pay it. Apparently there have been Visitax brainwashing sessions at travel agent conferences in Mexico, as this has been their best method to collect the fee (agents poorly advising their clients to pay it).
Anyways, CUN? Did you miss a flight to SJD or something???
Was in Tulum 2 months ago and never heard of this
Went to CUN with a work group. Half of us paid this, the other half ignored it. I was in the latter camp, and had zero issues.
No one really checks so I rarely pay it, except the last time leaving CUN I was unable to check in online so I was worried I'd be asked for proof at the check in desk, so I went ahead and paid it online. Turns out I was just SSSS'ed and still no one asked for proof of payment.
I went to Cancun earlier this year. I paid it with those a-holes at the counter and they charged me way more than $15pp. That being said at least it’s valid for a year and I have the official receipt. I don’t want to be the unlucky one that gets detained if out of the blue they decide to start enforcing it.
You cannot pay me enough to go to Mexico.