Mexico to Double Tourist Fees at Ancient Sites in 2026

Mexico City — The Senate of the Republic has approved the bills for the Federal Duties Law, the Special Tax on Production and Services Law, the Federal Fiscal Code, and the Federal Revenue Law, sending them to the head of the Executive Branch for publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation to take effect on January 1, 2026.

The Upper House made no changes to the bills it received from the Chamber of Deputies. Consequently, the tax and federal fee increases they contain, as well as the historic debt authorization of 2.3 trillion pesos, were voted in favor in their same terms by the 74 members of the majority comprised of Morena, PVEM, and PT. This included Senator Eugenio Segura Vázquez and Senator Anahí González Hernández, from Quintana Roo, while the entire opposition voted against.

With these approved reforms, on January 1, 2026, increases to fees for foreigners visiting Mexico for tourism will take effect. The Non-Resident Fee will increase by 14.2%, from 861 to 983 pesos per person in Article 8 of the Federal Duties Law. Additionally, entrance fees to archaeological zones and museums in all their categories will double for them.

Specific Fee Increases for Archaeological Zones

As a result of reforms to Article 288, starting January 1, the fees for foreign tourists to enter the archaeological zones of Tulum, Cobá, the Cancún Maya Museum with San Miguelito, San Gervasio, Kohunlich, Xelhá, and Xcaret, in the state of Quintana Roo, as well as other important ones like Teotihuacán, State of Mexico, the second most visited in the country, and Palenque, Chiapas, will rise from 95.58 to 209.09 pesos, which in practice will be from 100 to 210 pesos because they are rounded.

Those in Category II will increase from 78.71 pesos to 156.75 pesos, which in application will be a rise from 80 to 160 pesos, for sites in Quintana Roo like Dzibanché, Kinichná, and Chacchoben, the latter associated with visits from cruise passengers arriving at the port of Majahual.

For Category III, which includes the Quintana Roo sites El Rey, Oxtankah, El Meco, and Muyil, the increase is from 73.09 pesos to 143.69 pesos, which in practice will be from 75 to 145 pesos.

These increases will not apply to Mexicans and foreign residents in Mexico, as the reform grants them discounts of 50% in Category I zones and 45% in those of categories II and III.

However, the reform grants special treatment to Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, and Dzibilchaltún, in the state of Yucatán, by removing them from Category I and including them in a new Category IV, at 104.50 pesos, which will be 105 pesos at the time of application, for both foreigners and Mexicans.

The bill for the Federal Duties Law also establishes in Article 13 a fee of 294 pesos for the authorization of departure from the country for girls, boys, adolescents, and people under guardianship, which until this year was not charged.

Rejected Modification Proposals

Against these increases, reservations were presented for a particular vote, such as the one from Movimiento Ciudadano to reduce the increase for the highest archaeological zone fee to only 105 pesos and not raise the others, in Article 288 of the Federal Duties Law.

Also, PAN Senator Mayuli Martínez Simón proposed leaving the Non-Resident Fee without an increase and distributing its revenue 70% to tourism promotion, 15% to sargassum attention, and 15% to migration control on the southern border. She also proposed distributing 70% of the income from archaeological zones to their preservation and improvement and 30% to the social infrastructure of the regions where they are located, though without requesting that the increase not be applied.

Senators Laura Esquivel and Gina Campuzano, also from the PAN, requested that the fee for minors leaving the country, provided for in Article 13, not be charged.

The modification proposals for the three articles were put to a vote and were rejected by Morena, PVEM, and PT members, including Eugenio Segura and Anahí González from Quintana Roo. Therefore, Articles 8, 288, and 13 were approved in the same terms as the bill, despite the sensitive impact the first two have on tourism activity and despite Gino Segura also being the president of the Tourism Commission of the Senate.

Instead, Senator Segura Vázquez took the podium to express his support for the federal government's revenue policy, stating that it reflects the economic model of the 4T in favor of social justice, with the channeling of social investment for the benefit of older adults, women, youth, students, and people with disabilities.

More "Healthy Taxes"

With these approvals, the wave of increases and new levies of the IEPS in more than a dozen articles of its law was also finalized. These raise the rates from 160% to 200% for cigarettes, cigars, and other manufactured tobacco, and from 30.4% to 32% for cigars and other manufactured tobacco made entirely by hand, to make these products less affordable.

The definition of beverages with artificial sweeteners is also adapted, and the fee per liter for sugary drinks is increased from 1.64 pesos to 3.08 pesos, supposedly to change the eating patterns of Mexican society.

The rate for games with bets and draws also increases from 30% to 50%, supposedly to help combat money laundering, obliging taxpayers to make their income transparent and reducing spaces for illicit operations.

A sale of video games with violent, extreme, or adult content, not suitable for persons under 18 years of age, in physical format and digital services provided in national territory that allow access or download to such video games, provided by residents abroad without an establishment in Mexico and by residents in the country, is also taxed with an IEPS rate of 8%.

Furthermore, it was established that beverages that imitate oral rehydration solutions and include sugars, sweeteners, or other additives different from those authorized by the World Health Organization will remain taxed.

High Public Debt Ceiling Approved

The Senate also approved the bill for the Federal Revenue Law, in general and in particular, which establishes that more than 57% of public revenues will originate from tax collection.

The approved bill contemplates total public revenues of 10.1 trillion pesos for 2026, of which 5.8 trillion will be from taxes; while oil revenues will be 1.2 trillion, representing 12% of the total.

But it also approves a ceiling for direct debt of the federal government of up to 2 trillion 64 billion pesos, in internal and external debt, to finance government revenues and to refinance existing debt, along with an approved indirect debt for Petróleos Mexicanos and the Federal Electricity Commission of more than 285 billion 381 million 818 thousand pesos.

With this, the total public debt that the government can contract in 2026 will be 2 trillion 349 billion 381 million 818 thousand pesos. This means that 23% of the federal government's income will come from loans, with 19.8% coming from internal debt and 3.2% from external debt.

Regarding direct debt, the federal government was approved a ceiling for internal debt of up to 1 trillion 780 billion pesos, in addition to up to 15 billion 500 million US dollars, equivalent to 284 billion 890 million pesos at the current exchange rate, in external debt.

In indirect debt, the Revenue Law also authorizes the debt of Pemex, divided into 160 billion 619.6 million pesos of internal debt and 5 billion 342.1 million US dollars, equivalent to 98 billion 187 million 798 thousand pesos, in external debt; and for the CFE, for an amount of 8 billion 764.2 million pesos in internal debt and 969 million US dollars, equivalent to 17 billion 810 million 220 thousand pesos, in external debt.

On this topic, the Quintana Roo senator Eugenio Segura also came out in defense of the debt policy of the 4T government, arguing in a counterpoint with PAN Senator Ricardo Anaya in a committee meeting that the PRI and the PAN were the ones who indebted the country the most, while during the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador there was only a debt of 20.4%, which he qualified as "healthy, sustainable, and international data refers to it."

Furthermore, he stated that during the PAN and PRI governments, Pemex's debt increased from 43 billion to 105 billion dollars, while the Morena governments have reduced it to 85 billion dollars in 2025, with which he sought to justify that in 2026 they can add almost 5 billion dollars more to the debt of the state-owned company.

More Powers to the SAT

The transitory provisions included that withholdings of VAT and ISR will be made for digital platforms and for those who offer goods or services through them.

Additionally, senators voted in the Federal Fiscal Code to grant new powers to the Tax Administration Service to prevent and combat tax evasion and avoidance, also to put an end to simulated operations to issue false invoices, have greater control of operations carried out through digital platforms, in addition to working on tax simplification and strengthening legal security.

Among the most controversial provisions, it was approved that digital platforms grant permanent, online, and real-time access to the SAT to the necessary information on their clients' consumption for the fulfillment of tax obligations, without requiring a court order.

The reforms to the Code establish a unified withholding rate on digital platforms of 2.5% for individuals, 4% for legal entities with a Federal Taxpayer Registry, and 20% for those who do not provide the RFC, with the argument of guaranteeing a level playing field for digital and traditional commerce.