Hotel Council Warns Visitax Hike Hurts Tourism

Quintana Roo, Mexico – The Mexican Caribbean Hotel Council has expressed deep concern over the initiative by the Quintana Roo state government to increase the Visitax payment by 25% and oblige hotels and tourism service providers to act as withholding agents and jointly responsible for collection.

Far from strengthening revenue collection, the measure compromises the competitiveness of the entity, undermines legal certainty for hotels and tourism service providers—improperly converted into withholding agents—as well as investors, suppliers, visitors, and workers, and threatens the main economic engine of Quintana Roo.

Threat to the Mexico Plan and Competitiveness

While other international destinations are adjusting tax burdens downward to attract more visitors, the proposal from the Quintana Roo state government—to increase Visitax and intend for it to be collected by hotels and tourism service providers—goes in the opposite direction and places Mexico at a clear disadvantage. Quintana Roo is in a region where tourism demand is highly sensitive to cost increases.

The initiative contradicts the principles of the “Mexico Plan,” whose guiding axis is to improve the international perception of the country, reduce burdens on visitors, and strengthen confidence to boost tourism as a strategic lever for development. Instead of contributing to this commitment, the new scheme unjustifiably increases the cost of the visit, deteriorates the traveler’s experience, and erodes incentives to invest in national destinations.

Operational Infeasibility for Hotels and Providers

For operational and contractual reasons, hotels cannot pass on this new charge to rates already negotiated internationally, months in advance. Additionally, dispersing the collection of Visitax among thousands of providers multiplies the risks of improper collection, generates inconsistencies, confusion for the traveler, and frictions that directly affect the perception of the destination.

The foreseeable result is not greater revenue collection, but immediate operational impacts.

Punishment of the Multi-Destination Model and Family Businesses

In destinations such as Chetumal or Bacalar, the collection of Visitax for a couple of people can equate to almost a full night of lodging. This disproportionately affects affordable hotels and family businesses, and puts at risk the future of the multi-destination model that distinguishes the Mexican Caribbean.

Legal Risks and Manifest Unconstitutionality

The proposal violates constitutional principles of legality, proportionality, and equity. The jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation establishes that joint responsibility requires a direct link with the taxable event. Pretending that hotels collect a tax for the use of public infrastructure, an event that is unrelated to the lodging service, is an improper delegation of state attributions and, therefore, unconstitutional.

Insisting on this proposal is a bad idea that undermines the legal and economic certainty of the country’s main tourism engine.

Call to Authorities

The Mexican Caribbean Hotel Council reiterates its commitment to the development of Quintana Roo, but not at the cost of the sector’s viability.

We urgently call on the authorities to reconsider this initiative, which erodes the foundational economic base of our state’s tourism without strengthening public finances in any way or promoting tourism as instructed by the Mexico Plan.

About the Mexican Caribbean Hotel Council

The Mexican Caribbean Hotel Council brings together the Hotel Associations of the various tourist destinations in Quintana Roo, a sector that integrates more than 138,000 rooms, generating 20,500 million USD in foreign exchange and representing 303,600 direct jobs and more than 400,000 indirect jobs in the state. With the purpose of strengthening competitiveness, investment, and economic development, the Council promotes best practices, provides regulatory certainty, and fosters conditions that favor tourism revenue in the entity. Tourism is the main economic engine of Quintana Roo; therefore, the normative and operational stability of the lodging sector is essential to maintain occupancy, productive activity, and the attraction of investments.