Updated: February 2024
One of the questions we frequently get from our guests departing from Casa de los Viajeros, is how do we pay Visitax? Followed by DO WE NEED to pay the Visitax?
If you are not familiar with Visitax, we’re not too surprised. It is a tourist tax that was introduced on April 1, 2021, in the midst of COVID. It was said to be mandatory for all visitors from any foreign country travelling to the state of Quintana Roo for tourism purposes. The tax costs 271.00 Mexican Pesos/person (approximately $16 USD/$22 CAD). Foreigners with residency cards do not have to pay this tax.
The money is supposed to be used to fund tourism infrastructure projects. This tax should not be confused with the federal Mexican departure tax, which is included in your airline ticket. Visitax is NOT included in your airline ticket or hotel room stay. It is separate.
There is only one official website where you can pay this tax (which took us a lot of work to find). This is the official website.
https://www.visitax.gob.mx/
*For more info on the tax, there is an FAQ button on the above page that provides a little info.
Should you pay this tax?
The tax is mandatory, so if you are reading this, and are a foreign tourist, you should pay it. That said, there is very little information about the tax beyond their own website, a few blogs from a year ago, and a good number of scam sites. We wrote to the government to confirm that the tax is still being collected and they replied that it is.
Some visitors have not been asked about the tax and have not had to show proof that they paid it at the airport, while others have.
If you do want to pay online, make sure you pay on the official site. Remember official Mexican government sites always include “gob.mx” in their URL. The official site will not charge you in US dollars, only in pesos. (Currently $271 pesos – Feb 2024)
Under no circumstances should you be required to pay the Visitax in cash.
You can pay the tax in advance or wait until you get to the airport.
You can pay for the Visitax on your phone at the airport. Government employees are sometimes waiting at the bottom of the escalator in front of security and will have signs with QR codes on them which you can scan and pay right away. Just give yourself some extra time in case you run into this. The original plan called for kiosks at the airport to pay the tax, but to the best of our knowledge, they have never appeared.
Unfortunately, there are many unofficial sites offering to handle this payment for you. We found several that popped up on a Google search higher than the official site! The scam is that they charge you a big fee to calculate the tax for you. Here’s a search we tried today to find the right site:
Here are examples of some of the scam sites (we are not linking to them):
Bottom line, if you pay this tax in advance online, make sure you are using the official site. If it tries to charge you more than $271 Mexican Pesos, it is not the real site.
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