Tourist Card For US$30?

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Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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From today's Sosua News:

[h=5]The tax authorities (la Direcci?n General de Impuestos Internos DGII) have come up with the proposal to increase the tourist card to US $ 30, the $ 10 to be paid upon arrival and departure at the airport will be forfeited.[/h] [h=5]Welcome to Puerto Plata[/h]
[h=5]But when leaving the country US $ 30 must be paid which means that the tourist card will be US $ 10 more expensive at the end. The tourism industry has made a massive protest against this proposal. Tickets have recently become much more expensive and with this increase, the Dominican Republic becomes again more expensive.[/h]
 
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william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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I can vouch for the air fares being up.... JFK - AZS is $360 for me 1 way in July

POP - YYZ for my return was $360.... Air Canada.
WestJet wanted $650 - 1 way
 
Robert

Robert

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Typical brain dead solution, what do you expect? They take the path of least resistance and have no thought for the consequences.
 
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Expat-in-Cabarete

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I can't follow this. The tourist card (that you get on arrival) is $10. Departure airport tax has been $20 for a long long time, included in air fares for commercial airlines coming from the US. So changing to $30 on departure is either a $20 increase in the tourist card, or if the $30 cover that plus exit tax, then there is no tax increase.
 
Castellamonte

Castellamonte

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If you bundle the cost of the tourist tax into the cost of the airline tickets it may be sufficiently obscured as to be of little or no consequence to the traveler. Of course if the traveler is a resident then they are just paying for a tax they should not have to. Also, when I last purchased a ticket to fly to the US the taxes were more expensive than the ticket cost itself! That's insane.

I'm afraid the greed of the DR government will soon choke this golden egg laying chicken they have called tourism.
 
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Ken

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Expat-in-Cabarete said:
I can't follow this. The tourist card (that you get on arrival) is $10. Departure airport tax has been $20 for a long long time, included in air fares for commercial airlines coming from the US. So changing to $30 on departure is either a $20 increase in the tourist card, or if the $30 cover that plus exit tax, then there is no tax increase.
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$10 more. The article explains that now the tax is 10+10. The proposal is $0 on arrival and $30 on departure.
 
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SKY

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Ken said:
$10 more. The article explains that now the tax is 10+10. The proposal is $0 on arrival and $30 on departure.
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I am pretty sure that the departure tax has been $20 for a long time. Along with $10 for a Tourist Card. Now it will be $30 on exit for a $10 US raise. They are pricing themselves OUT of the tourist market as opposed to other destinations.

But the Dominican way has always been to raise prices on the remaining clients when things are bad. They will pay the price for this.
 
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beastwood

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mountainannie said:
don't the fares to the DR normally go up n the summer do to all the vacationing Dominicans? Someone told me that.
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My experience with tickets from BOS NYC MIA etc...to SDQ is that they typically go up the last week June or around the 4the of July to capitalize on school vacation travel, and will drop again around Sept 9. However prices started spiking back in May...never much of a price reprise after the winter/spring holiday travel this year.
 
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Ken

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SKY said:
I am pretty sure that the departure tax has been $20 for a long time. Along with $10 for a Tourist Card. Now it will be $30 on exit for a $10 US raise. They are pricing themselves OUT of the tourist market as opposed to other destinations.

But the Dominican way has always been to raise prices on the remaining clients when things are bad. They will pay the price for this.
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Thanks for correcting me. I was right about the $10 but apparently wrong about the split. Been a long time since I paid the tax, knowingly, being a resident, and have not paid much attention to the discussion of the tax on DR1
 
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Dolores1

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Asonahores is fighting this. Here is the complete explanation on dr1:

Asonahores opposes departure tax increase
The National Hotel & Tourism Association (Asonahores) and the Airlines Association are objecting to Department of Taxes' (DGII) plans to unify the charge of the tourist card and departure tax.

The measure would mainly affect residents in the Dominican Republic who do not pay the tourist card charge of US$10.

The DGII is proposing that the Executive Branch prepare a bill establishing the elimination of the US$10 tourist card, replacing it with a US$30 departure charge at maritime and air ports. The charge would be applied across the board to nationals, foreign residents and tourists, as reported in Hoy.

Tourism sector representatives say the measure will negatively affect travel flows.

Arturo Villanueva says that the DGII came up with the proposal after the Civil Aviation Board sent a note expressing concern about the long queues of tourists at Las Americas and Punta Cana airports for the purchase of the tourist cards when several flights arrived at the same time. Villanueva said that a meeting is planned with DGII director Guarocuya Felix and President Medina's legal advisor Cesar Pina Toribio to find a better solution.

Villanueva says: "ideally, the airlines could collect the US$10 tourist card charge from foreign tourists when they purchase their flights as they do when they collect the US$20 departure tax."

DR1 - Daily News Friday, 07 June 2013
 
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Expat-in-Cabarete

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Then it is anyone leaving in the DR that the new system would affect by an extra $10. Tourists would still be paying the $30 total on exit or with their fares.
 
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ramesses

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Another win for places like Cuba. More and more of my friends are going there because the cost of the DR keeps going up.
 
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SKY

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Expat-in-Cabarete said:
Then it is anyone leaving in the DR that the new system would affect by an extra $10. Tourists would still be paying the $30 total on exit or with their fares.
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Then not only tourists would be paying this but Residents AND Citizens of the DR also. Absolute garbage.
 
Harleysrock

Harleysrock

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Ken said:
From today's Sosua News:

The tax authorities (la Direcci?n General de Impuestos Internos DGII) have come up with the proposal to increase the tourist card to US $ 30, the $ 10 to be paid upon arrival and departure at the airport will be forfeited.

Welcome to Puerto Plata


But when leaving the country US $ 30 must be paid which means that the tourist card will be US $ 10 more expensive at the end. The tourism industry has made a massive protest against this proposal. Tickets have recently become much more expensive and with this increase, the Dominican Republic becomes again more expensive.
Click to expand...

$30 to get into the country would not bother me a bit, it's $20 increase. If you can't afford the increase you obviously can't afford the trip.
I do agree since the tourist industry isn't at the best place it could be maybe not the greatest move but it's just $20!
 
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ramesses

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Harleysrock said:
$30 to get into the country would not bother me a bit, it's $20 increase. If you can't afford the increase you obviously can't afford the trip.
I do agree since the tourist industry isn't at the best place it could be maybe not the greatest move but it's just $20!
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This is a narrow view.
Problem is over the years they keep adding more and more dollars and it starts becoming apparent that the DR has out priced itself in regards to other vacation destinations.
 
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SKY

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Apr 11, 2004
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Harleysrock said:
$30 to get into the country would not bother me a bit, it's $20 increase. If you can't afford the increase you obviously can't afford the trip.
I do agree since the tourist industry isn't at the best place it could be maybe not the greatest move but it's just $20!
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Next time you buy a plane ticket to the DR check and you most likely see that you pay more in tax than the base fare. The DR has one of the highest, if not the highest tax on Air Travel in the World.
 
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