Cancun airport agents are cracking down on visitors who haven’t paid the controversial Quintana Roo VISITAX, says the head of Travelkore.
Enforcement of the tax appeared to be fairly lax for some time. But Tim Scurry, the founder and CEO of Travelkore, told Open Jaw that visitors have reported an increasing incidence of uniformed VISITAX agents insisting that they show a QR code as proof of tax payment upon arrival at CUN.
“There’s been a lot of moaning and groaning that physical enforcement of the tax wasn’t there. But now it’s appeared, and people are getting caught short and getting surprised.”
Scurry said he started hearing a lot more about the crackdown on the Travelkore Facebook page in mid-November.
Not only do visitors have to be aware of the tax, he warned, but so do travel advisors. “Travel agents have to be very careful because they have to report the tax. They have to physically tell their customers. There’s no choice anymore."
Scurry said the VISITAX amount is USD$17 per person, or CAD$22.50 or GBP13.50. Earlier reports suggested scammers were asking tourists to pay up to USD$68 upon arrival.
The tax was implemented by the state of Quintana Roo, but Scurry said he hasn’t heard reports of VISITAX proof of payment being demanded at the airport in Tulum.
“Maybe they’re just focusing on the big airports. It’s definitely catching people by surprise.”
Scurry said Travelkore works with Maritime Travel, The Travel Agent Next Door, Travel Best Bets, and other agency groups, which provide customers with links to the Travelkore tax collection site.
As far as he knows, Travelkore is the only authorized, non-government, site that allows visitors and advisors to pay the VISITAX.
“We’re extremely safe and secure,” he said. “We’re Canadian based, so we have to adhere to rigorous standards in terms of how we handle money and in terms of privacy. Canada also has very strict banking laws.
Scurry said there’s no provision for paying the tax in cash in person upon arrival at CUN. “If anybody asks you to pay cash it’s a scam.”
