The Puerto Vallarta City Council approved that Luis Ernesto Munguía González, Municipal President, present to the Congress of Jalisco his bill that contemplates charging 1.25 Units of Measurement and Update, that is, 138.71 pesos to foreign tourists who visit the city for using public property and spaces in the municipality.
It is expected that this initiative will be included in the Income Law project of the municipality of Puerto Vallarta for the Fiscal Year 2025 of Jalisco. It is estimated that between 3.3 and 3.8 million foreign tourists will arrive in the municipality by the end of the year, with which they hope to collect around 500 million pesos annually.
To collect this contribution, the creation of the “Trust for the investment in Infrastructure and Services of the Tourist Strip of Puerto Vallarta” is contemplated, which will be integrated 50 percent by the private initiative and 50 percent by public officials of the municipal government, in order to make its collection and application transparent.
If the initiative is approved, the funds will be used to maintain and improve municipal public spaces for tourism activities, as well as to improve public services provided by the municipality to the tourism sector, especially the historic center, the tourist strip, the romantic zone, the entrance avenue and the boardwalk. Environmental protection and sustainability projects for the city are also considered.
Children under 14 years of age, people with disabilities, tourist guides, tour operators, airline and cruise ship personnel and workers in the tourism sector who are foreigners will be exempt from paying this contribution. The opinion presented by the Puerto Vallarta City Council did not specify when the Mayor will present the initiative to the State Congress.
This charge for foreign tourists was implemented in Quintana Roo 12 years ago. In addition, it is applied in cities such as Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, Lisbon, Oporto, in the community of Catalonia and in the Balearic Islands.
During 2023, around six million tourists visited Puerto Vallarta, while in the first seven months of 2024, 2.6 million have done so by land, sea and air. According to figures from the State of Jalisco’s Tourism Information System, last year an economic impact from tourism of 41,322 million pesos was generated in the municipality.
Source: informador
