The Association of Airlines (ALA) of the Dominican Republic met on Tuesday, 12 April and unanimously rejected the announcement made by Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez whereby funding for infrastructure in tourism areas would come from an administratively-applied US$5 surcharge on scheduled and charter airline fares as of May 2005, as reported in Hoy newspaper. ALA feels that already fares are overtaxed. He said that an increase would have a significant negative effect on the flow of travel to the country, both on scheduled flights as well as on charter flights that are handled by international tour operators. The association’s position is that the Dominican Republic would price itself out and would no longer be able to compete in the European and North American markets.
The Association mentioned that passengers traveling to the DR already have to pay the government:
Civil Aviation Board charge of US$20 for scheduled passengers and US$10 for charter passengers.
Department of Taxes: US$20 exit tax and US$10 tourist card.
He said that the Ministry of Tourism receives a portion of these funds for promotional campaigns abroad.
ALA requested that the tourism minister and the President of the Republic instead of promoting new taxes that would have negative consequences on aviation and the tourism sector, make better use of the funds the state already receives and invest these funds back into the sector by building the needed infrastructure.
Spokesperson for ALA, Maria Esther Fernandez says that the association has not received any formal notification from the Ministry of Tourism regarding the new surcharge.
Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez made the announcement during a press conference on 7 April during the Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange held in Santo Domingo.