The Ministry of Tourism announced that starting August it will impose a US$5 surcharge on airfares to the Dominican Republic. Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez had announced the lsurcharge would go in effect in May during a 7 April press conference at the Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange marketing event. He said the new charge would only apply to airline tickets purchased outside the Dominican Republic. Jimenez says the measure will be temporary.
Jimenez said that the funds would be used to improve tourism destinations. “The Dominican government is obliged to develop infrastructures and improve tourism areas and it is counterproductive that living the Dominican Republic off tourism there are coastal areas full of garbage and there are not adequate sanitary fill and adequate signage on the highways,” the minister says in a press release issued today on the surcharge.
He said the surcharge will enable the country to compete with Mexico, Jamaica and other Caribbean destinations.
He said that unfortunately the new government has found a bankrupt government and as a consequence is obliged to find ways to finance important tourism works.
He said the surcharge is being postponed because fares had already been purchased for the season and tour operators were unaware of the new surcharge. He said they had notified the International Federation of Tour Operators of the increase, but apparently the information was not passed on to tour operator members, especially in the United States.
“You are aware that 50% of the tourists that visit the DR come from the US and Canada, and thus it is important that they be aware of the surcharge,” explained Jimenez.
Two weeks ago the Ministry of Tourism announced that the government would invest US$300 million in tourism infrastructures that would be carried out with the funds generated by the surcharge and funds from international organizations.
The National Association of Hotels & Restaurants and the National Airlines Association have protested the new tax, stressing that airfares in the DR are already heavily taxed.