Mexico has passed a vote which could see anyone travelling on a cruise ship charged a fee to enter the country.
A measure that would charge every passenger on cruises a ‘Non-Resident Fee’ when landing in Mexican ports was passed in the country’s Congress lower house last week.
Passengers would be charged a £33 immigration tax, which has been proposed under a new budget law.
If passed, the new law would be introduced in 2026 as a way to address overtourism in the country.
The proposal for the legislation said: “It is necessary to eliminate the exemption from immigration document payment for foreign passengers who enter Mexico aboard cruise ships.”
The decision received backlash from the cruise industry. The Mexican Association of Shipping Agents said the charge could make the cruises in the country “uncompetitively expensive”.
The group said in a statement: “If this measure is implemented, it would make Mexican ports of call among the most expensive in the world, severely affecting their competitiveness with other Caribbean destinations.”
Cruise ship passengers had been previously been excluded from the immigration fee, as the visitors typically sleep aboard the vessels and may not disembark the ship.
But under the new budget law, passengers would apparently be charged the £33 fee anyway.
It has been reported that two-thirds of the money raised from the new fee would be given to Mexico’s defence department, rather than the tourism industry.
The debate surrounding the new fee is set to continue in the Mexican Senate later this week.
It comes as cruise ship passangers docking in the state of Quintana Roo, which comprises tourist hotspots the likes of Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Costa Maya and Cozumel, will be charged a £3 fee under a regional law that comes into effect on January 1, 2025.
