Quintana Roo Drops Hotel Visitax Plan, Budget Cut

Chetumal — After failing to secure hotel industry acceptance to become intermediaries for collecting the fee, the government of Quintana Roo withdrew its proposal for lodging centers to withhold the Foreign Visitor Fee (Visitax) starting in 2026. This forced a cut of over 2.5 billion pesos from the state’s income and expenditure budget for next year, primarily affecting Public Investment and tourism promotion.

During the meeting of the Finance, Budget, and Accounts Commission at 8:20 p.m., prior to the extraordinary session to approve public spending for 2026, State Fiscal Attorney Amadeo Condado Espinoza, on behalf of the state government, requested that the XVIII Legislature withdraw from the Rights Law decree the modification to the Visitax collection scheme.

The official stated that State Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa determined that the current Visitax collection scheme would be maintained in 2026, “sensitively addressing the concerns of the hotel and tourism sector,” raised in meetings held with them.

At the same time, he reiterated the state government’s commitment to permanent, respectful, and constructive dialogue with the hotel and tourism sector, “with the goal of jointly building the best scheme to strengthen the collection of this fee.”

He emphasized that Visitax has been in effect since 2021, but in its best year has not collected more than 7% of its estimated potential, making it evident that its collection mechanisms need to be perfected, “under criteria of shared responsibility and coordination with the hotel sector.”

He added that the income generated by Visitax is relevant for sustaining the competitiveness of the tourism sector, maintaining infrastructure, and providing public services in Quintana Roo, which directly impact tourist experience and the well-being of state residents.

However, he said the decision not to modify the collection scheme for next year aims to “preserve certainty, avoid operational impacts, and continue strengthening dialogue between the public and private sectors, to identify consensus that allows, in the short and medium term, improving the collection efficiency of this fee.”

Thus, the reform to the State Rights Law that was approved no longer contains changes to the Visitax collection scheme, which will continue to be collected directly by the state government from foreign tourists through airport modules or via the website created for that exclusive purpose by the Quintana Roo Tax Administration Service (SATQ), tools that most visitors evade.

2026 Budget Cut

The withdrawal of the Visitax collection scheme modification resulted in a cut of 2.533 billion pesos from the original income and expenditure budget proposal, whose financial ceiling for next year dropped from 56.514 billion pesos to 53.981 billion pesos, a 4.5% reduction compared to what was initially planned.

This is due to the reduction in the Rights collection target in the State Income Law for 2026, lowering the income amount considered under the concept of Rights for the use, enjoyment, or exploitation of public domain assets from 4.307 billion pesos to only 1.775 billion pesos.

Therefore, Visitax collection is estimated to reach only about 700 million pesos next year, instead of the 3.204 billion they hoped to collect with the collection scheme change, considering that just over 1 billion pesos of Rights for use, enjoyment, or exploitation of public domain assets correspond to the $5 fee charged to cruise ship tourists.

In its original plan, the state government expected to increase Rights collection by 90%, nearly doubling it, with rate increases for public services from various agencies, vehicle registration, but especially through the Visitax collection scheme change, to grow from 3.710 billion pesos in 2025 to 7.074 billion pesos, but the target was reduced to 4.542 billion pesos.

With all the above, the annual increase for the 2026 Expenditure Budget will finally be 2.508 billion pesos compared to 2025, instead of the 5.040 billion peso increase expected with the help of the Visitax collection system change.

Public spending cuts were primarily in areas financed with non-earmarked resources, across various sectors, including the Judicial Branch, whose spending adjusts to a fixed percentage of the state’s total budget.

However, the sector that suffered the largest spending cut was Public Investment, which from an original projection of 3.784 billion pesos ended at 2.601 billion pesos, meaning it was reduced by 1.183 billion pesos.

The allocation for the Tourism sector also saw a significant reduction, as originally 937 million pesos were to be allocated, but with cuts the final amount remained at 681 million pesos, 27% less, which are for the secretariat, the Tourism Promotion Council, and the new Tourism Infrastructure Institute, which will handle maintenance of Cancun’s Hotel Zone.

The General Branch of Financial Provisions was also adjusted downward, specifically in operational expenses for tourism promotion and beach recovery.

With these changes, the State Congress proceeded to hold its extraordinary session period to approve the Income Law and Expenditure Budget for 2026.