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$15 Air Tax Replaces 3% Hotel Room Tax
Visitors to Costa Rica who have already
bought their airfare will have to pay the
us$15 tourism tax in addition to the ticket,
according to Ley 8694 - Fortalecimiento del
Desarrollo de la Industria Turística
Nacional, which was published yesterday
(Friday) in La Gaceta.
The us$15 tax, which replaces the 3% tax on
hotel rooms, is to be paid by every visitor
to Costa Rica who arrives by air.
Many visitors were not charged the tax,
waiting the tax law to go into effect and
thus will be faced with having to pay the
tax or arrival, not matter how or where the
purchased their ticket.
The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT)
is the government agency to oversee the
collection and administration of the tax.
The funds are to be destined to the
marketing, planning and development of a
substainable tourism destination and the
airlines landing in Costa Rica are required
to charge the tax and hand it over to the
ICT within the first 15 days of each month.
Airlines behind on their payments or failing
to hand over the tax dollars to the ICT
could face temporary or permanent loss of
their landing rights by the Dirección
General de Aviación Civil (Civil Aviation).
Since 1960 a tax of 3%, in addition to the
13% sales tax, was charged on every occupied
room. However, given that many visitors to
Costa Rica do not stay in hotel rooms any
more, some opting to rent out private condos
or rooms in private homes, others using
their time share days or staying in their
own condos or apartments, tax revenue has
dropped.
One group that had been pushing for decades
the drop of the room tax is the Cámara
Costarricense de Hoteles, which, according
to the president of the Cámara, Carlos
Lachner, hotels can now be more competitive.
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