Riviera Maya Business Groups Push to Block 35.8% Hike in Mexico’s Tourist Entry Fee

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Business organizations in the Riviera Maya are joining forces with state and national groups to urge Mexico’s Congress to reconsider a 35.8 percent increase in the non-resident fee (DNR) proposed for 2027, citing concern over how a higher entry cost could affect tourism activity, said José Ramón Cárdenas González, president of the Riviera Maya Business Coordinating Council (CCE).

The proposal would raise the fee from 983 pesos to 1,334.80 pesos per visitor.

Cárdenas González said the plan comes at a difficult moment for the tourism industry and argued that the conditions facing air connectivity must be taken into account. From the business sector’s perspective, he said, rising costs in aviation are among the factors that have hurt tourism, making it inadvisable to add new charges for visitors.

Business Groups Seek Allies Before Weighing Legal Action

The CCE president explained that the strategy is to build a joint position with business organizations from across the country in order to bring their arguments to federal lawmakers. Opposition is not limited to the Riviera Maya: tourism and business groups in Quintana Roo have also asked Congress to assess the potential effects of the increase on the state’s tourism competitiveness.

For now, the Riviera Maya Business Coordinating Council has ruled out legal action, because the increase remains a proposal that must still be reviewed by the legislature. The business sector will focus its efforts on dialogue and on trying to modify the plan during debate. Mexico’s federal Tourism Ministry, for its part, has publicly maintained that the proposed increase would not affect the flow of international tourists.

Cárdenas González said that if the proposal advances without changes, businesses will later review the legal options available to them. He stressed that the immediate goal is to bring together “several organizations from here” and from other regions to present their concerns to Congress before a final decision is made on the 2027 non-resident fee.