06-Mar-1999 Saturday (Page B-1 )
When push came to shove, the Ensenada tourism industry made the Mexican government back off from its plan to impose a $15 entry fee on tourists traveling through northern Baja California.
That means Ensenada and San Felipe, a fishing village on the Sea of Cortez, will not be affected.
Industry officials said Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Tomas Ruiz announced his decision to Baja California congressmen during a meeting Wednesday in Mexico City.
The federal Secretariat of the Treasury is still planning to impose the fee on tourists traveling to the mainland and the southern half of the Baja peninsula, starting July 1.
According to Mexican Tourism Secretary Oscar Espinosa Villarreal, the fee would generate about $150 million, which would go to promote Mexico and advertise its resorts and beaches throughout the world.
The fee would be charged to tourists who travel more than 15 miles beyond the border by air, land or sea to the Mexican interior.
"This is a relief," said Ramon Inzunza, president of the Ensenada Chamber of Commerce. "We have invested a lot of time and resources in trying to get tourists to visit us, millions of dollars in combined funds on advertising in the United States. To lose it all just like that -- it was not fair."
The chamber and the state and city tourism agencies in Ensenada, as well as its Hotel and Motel Association, got together as soon as the news about the fee broke last week. The coalition asked the state representatives in the Mexican congress to lobby the Treasury against it. The fee, says Inzunza, would have considerably damaged the tourism-dependent economies of Ensenada and San Felipe.
Carlos Gallegos Quiroz, president of the Ensenada Hotel and Motel Association, said tourism brings about $50 million a year to the city.
According to Gallegos, the Treasury's decision was based on an international treaty with the United States that calls for reciprocity concerning tourism. No American should pay to stay up to 72 hours in areas close to the border, as no Mexicans with visas do when visiting American cities close to the border.
The official ruling on the fee, and further details on how it will be implemented, will come out March 20, Gallegos said.
Both he and Inzunza said they doubt that the government will try to impose the $15 fee on tourists staying beyond a 72-hour limit in Baja California, as initially proposed.
"How would they be able to tell who has been here 72 hours or more?" asked Inzunza. "It seems to me that at least in this area, the government will have to do away with (the 72-hour limit)."
The news also comes as a relief to travel agents in San Diego whose business includes Baja California.
"Everybody is going to be very pleased with this -- Americans who travel to Baja either for work or pleasure," said Barbara Littlemore, president of
Baja Tours Incorporated.
Most likely San Felipe & San Quintin in Baja will be included.
Information is courtesy of the Baja California Tourism Department."
Ted Donovan, MEXICO OnLINE
([email protected]) Tuesday, May 18, 1999
"By comparison, our border crossing permit, for those coming to the border, is good for ten years, and costs $45 USD.
It costs Mexicans $45, for a ten year laserized border crossing permit. And, the permit to pass the 62 mile checkpoint (McAllen, TX), costs $6
and is good for 6 months.
We also hassle those coming to the border - they must produce a utility receipt or some similar proof they are still living at their nominal address, and those who cannot, are simply turned away, even if it took them 24 hours to get here. One can call home and have them faxed, but many Mexicans simply do not have that capability.
As far as I can tell, those flying need new papers every time, but I have not been able to verify this.
In the last 16 months, I have not even been asked to show my tourist permit, not any time, nor any place, including the border, on trips lasting up to a month. The only hassle I get is our own immigration customs people.
It will be based on the tourist permit, allegedly good for 180 days and multiple crossings, but I usually do not get them for 180 days, as short as 30 days, more often 90 days.
Those with residency papers, and those with dual citizenship status allegedly do not have to pay it.
The effect on people will vary a lot. There are some groups which state they simply will not pay an extra $100+ for a car load going to Monterrey or the Baja.
Families living along the border with kin folk in Mexico will not be able to afford many trips, though some of them will qualify for dual citizenship. For most of us going only 3 or 4 times a year, and having less than poverty incomes will merely gripe and pay.
What will gripe me the most is the tendency of border officials to give the FMT for less than the 180 days, which was only a nuisance, and now will be an actual expense."
- Bruce Mcgovern ([email protected]) Tuesday, May 25, 1999
Today's McAllen MONITOR has a front page article on the new fee. Juan Triana M�rquez, Reynosa immigration port director, spoke to the McAllen Chamber of Commerce.
He said it has been decided that the $15 tourist fee WILL be linked to the tourist permit. IF the tourist permit is granted for the full 180 days, the fee will be for the same period.
Note that it is not certain you will receive a permit for the full time. I have received, in 1998, permits for 180 days, and for as little as 30 days, depending upon the generosity of the official. So I suspect the nasty ones will be even more motivated to harass you by cutting you short just for meanness.
The article also said those with Mexican citizenship or dual citizenship will not need to get the permit. One of the local problems here was Mexican citizens with U.S. born children. One woman with 7 kids said the fee would stop them from visiting family in Monterrey. Clearly, they can get the new dual citizenship, and the problem will be solved for them.
- Bruce Mcgovern ([email protected]) Saturday, March 27, 1999
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