Cancun’s New Tourism Tax  – Everything You Need to Know (2024)

Excellent information! I am trying to get my fiance’ to agree to go to Cancun for our honeymoon. I too was a single woman traveler, and have been to Mexico 3x; Playa Del Carmen, Tulum, and Cancun. The first two were with, now ex-husbands, and the 3rd time was by myself. Never had a problem. I stayed in an all-inclusive resort, used a taxi to get to/from the local shopping area, walked behind groups of people so it looked like I was with a group when in the local markets, and basically just used common sense during my trip. I had more fun being by myself than either of the first 2 times, and found other “couples” who wished they would have done the same (LOL)!
I would actually like my upcoming wedding to be in Mexico, but have been told (a few years ago) it is a pain in the butt when it comes to all the paperwork and then filing the proof of marriage here in the US. I know we could go to the JP office here in Texas, and then have the official ceremony in Mexico, but that just does not appeal to me. I’m nervous as it is already, so ‘walking down the isle’ again is going to be a major accomplishment. Having to go through it 2x is not appealing (people laugh when I explain it that way). Anyway, I am enjoying your articles; well written, to the point, very informative. Thank you again!

I really like your information and found it really helpful.
The review of the royalton was humorous and informative.

We laughed at every meal about the preciousness of spoons!
We will look at your stuff next time we come down.

Just returned from Riviera Maya on the 15th. Paid my visitor tax before I left home however we were never asked for proof of payment. Oh Well. Hopefully it is helping those who need it. I had be been to the area the times and always enjoy the friendly people and beautiful scenery.

Left Cancun 5/22. Paid the tax on line before going up to security. No one ever checked that we paid it. I’m sure half the people leaving never did. They should just do this at check in instead of as a surprise going up the steps to security. All that does is create a traffic jam.

I just paid online and put the wrong departure date. I put the one leaving from Texas and not leaving from Cancun. Will this be an issue?

Hey! Are the taxes applicable for kids under 5 years of age?

I we just went to Cancun Secrets Resort and when we left we paid visitor tax for 4 people and it cost us $ 152.00. We were thinking it would only be $ 11.00 per person . Do you know why it was this much?

I paid the tax but no one asked for a receipt or to see it. I feel like I was the only one to pay and now I’m getting grief over doing the right thing. My nephew and his wife went and they didn’t pay and no one question them. Guess I’m out 76.00 for taxes I should have waited to pay at the airport.

I have two questions:

1. Is the departure date the date you leave home or the day you leave Cancun?
2. Is there a way to edit the departure date after you pay?

Hi so I want to pay the visitax before I go. On the visitax website it asks for departure date so do I put the date I go on holiday or the date I come back

Just traveled to and from Cancun (July 2021) and had no idea this was a thing! Didn’t notice any signage at the airport and had no issues going through security…

We traveled to Playa Del Carmen for a week, and came home on July 1. No one ever checked anything at security and we didn’t know anything about it. We are traveling to Cancun this week, with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. I got a notice from the airline about the “vista tax”. I’ve decided not to pay, and if they ask at security, we’ll pay then. One of the sites to pay was charging $24.90 per person (the tax + fee). That’s outrageous to charge more than 100% fee than the actual tax cost.

HI … just wondering what to do if I pay the tax in advance and use the wrong travel date. Can I fix it? Do I need to submit another application and pay again? Please advise.

I just left Cancun airport. I got randomly selected to show proof of visitor tax payment. guess i’m the lucky one. I paid it on my phone instead of waiting in line.

Hi Sarah, so visitax and Quintana Roo tax are the same, right? And the cost is $11. My travel agency is asking me $60 per person…

I just got back from a resort on October 30th. I paid the taxes online to avoid any issues, but there was no enforcement, so I am sure a large portion of people don’t even know or don’t bother to pay. I guess it’s the honor system for right now.

What happens if you don’t pay the tax? A lady at the airport asked us to pay it and we tried but neither of our credit cards worked so she wrote down our passport numbers. We thought this might be a scam. Now we know the tax is legit but we didn’t pay it within 48 hours she said there may be penalties. So we are wondering what penalties??

There are many of us Expats who live full time in the Riviera Maya, with either Permanent or Temporary Residency. Since we are not Tourists does the Tax apply to Residents as well?

My wife and I just arrived back home to Virginia from Cancun on 12/11/2021, here was our experience… We paid the tourism tax, but as many have been experiencing for months now, no one at the airport checked to see if we paid. In the Cancun airport, we checked in with our airline and got our boarding passes. Headed for the escalators at the far left and at the entrance to the escalators were about 4 young workers holding small signs about paying the Tourism Tax, but that was it, and I’m sure majority of travels just walked on by and continued up the escalators. At the top of the escalators was a terrible traffic jam before the line formed to go through security. This traffic jam was caused by travels scrambling to fill out a Mexico COVID Questionnaire that most travelers didn’t know about since we already filled out a questionnaire for our airline and showed proof of vaccination and/or negative COVID test. There were a handful of signs with QR codes at the top of the escalators and 1 worker standing at the entrance of the security line, holding up a sign with a QR code to fill out an online Mexico COVID Questionnaire. The questionnaire was nearly impossible to access due to limited cell service and slow airport wifi. Alternatively, the worker was handing out paper questionnaires. These dumb Mexico “required” COVID questionnaires were NEVER collected or checked and neither was the tourism tax lol. Extremely disorganized, but we made it through.

Had the same experience as Aaron at CUN on the following day. Nobody asked for the health questionnaire or proof of tax payment. Wouldn’t have minded doing them both if it was correctly administered, but don’t like being asked to do something they do seem to need done.

I just had the same experience, leaving Cancun on December 17. I ended up at this article because I was interested to know if the tax was legit or a scam, and was surprised to learn that it’s mandatory and has been for 6 months now. Nobody checked anything and there was no way to enforce who had paid or not.
Also had the same experience with the covid questionnaire. I thought that it was for contract tracing purposes, but nobody even looked at the paper, which I filled out ahead of time for my flight to Cancun. On the way back I didn’t know I would need to do it again, and instead of filling it out a second time I just showed them the old paper. Again, they just took a cursory glance. I don’t have any problem with the tax, or will filling out paperwork in for a purpose, but what a waste of time for everyone to fill out something that is never collected or even looked over.

Hiya, Can anyone advise what we need to do if we are travelling to Quintana Roo (from UK) then leaving for other parts of Mexico, before returning to Q.Roo? Do we have to pay the tax twice, or just put our final departure date back to the UK? We’re flying into Cancun and then a week later flying to Mexico city for a few days. Any advice much appreciated. thanks.

Hello,

I thought I would be proactive and pay our Mexico departure Tax online. It was easy but When It said to put in your departure date. I put in our departure date from Canada, not the departure date leaving Mexico. Does this matter? If so, Can I get it changed?

Jim

I see a lot of people have done what i did and that was put in the departure date from home instead of from Cancun.
But it looks like there is no answer yet of what to do.So far I’m assuming it doesn’t look like a big deal just as along as you paid the tax if they even check.Thats all Mexico cares about.

Jeff

So , on my West Jet ticket flying from from Toronto Canada To Cancun, it shows CAD $36.72 UK2 ( Tourism tax Derecho No Immigrant E )
Is this the same as the VISITAX.
Thanks for any help. Joanne

Taxes, taxes, taxes.. All good, we’re headed to Puerto Vallarta instead. You have less people coming, so you make the ones that are pay additional.. not acceptable behaviour.
So, we’ll travel to places that don’t penalize us for visiting. Thanks, turns out we love the west coast as much as we do our old haunts in QRoo. You may have done us a favour with this one.

Hi
Travelling to QR I September. Reading your comments, can we complete Covid questionnaire before we leave resort to save time when we depart at the airport

Do temporary or permanent residents have to pay this tax when they visit family in Canada or U.S.?

Someone wrote this “So , on my West Jet ticket flying from from Toronto Canada To Cancun, it shows CAD $36.72 UK2 ( Tourism tax Derecho No Immigrant E ).
Is this the same as the VISITAX.”

I’m in the same situation, leaving from Toronto going to Cancun on April 4th with West Jet and the same tax “Tourism Tax Derecho No Immigrante” and same amount CAD 39.55 UK2

So do we need to pay another Mexican tax? And is it to be paid when you arrive and when you leave? And the amount charged on my ticket is higher…?

Thanks,

Carole

I heard today in a facebook group that the Visitax has been increased. Is that true?

I’ve been in Riviera Maya three time in one year, newer paid any tax (because I didn’t know), nobody didn’t ask me for nothing when I left Cancun or when I came back. Always bet 180 visa on arrival.

On July 27th I have a flight from Colombia back to the US with a transit stop in the Cancun Airport. I will not leave the airport, just catch a connecting flight from it back to the US. I will be in the Cancun Airport for about 5 hours between my flights. Do I need to pay the Cancun Departure Tax? Also, I have tried to pay it on Visitax using two valid credit cards and it will not go through. The message I get is that it does not recognize my card(s). Any suggestions?

According to the VISITAX website FAQ, the price has increased to 240 pesos.

Glad that I found this article and the comments section because I did come across one of those other websites (visitax.us) that are charging USD 42 (the actual USD 11 + their fee).

I was trying to pay the tax prior to my trip, but when I try to process payment, I get an error stating that there was an issue processing payment. Has anyone else had this issue?

If I paid the visitax when I was in Cancun last February do I need to pay it again in September? Is it per visit or per year?

Yeah, we refused to pay it because there is a tourist tax already included in the airline ticket. No one checked and no way of verifying that the random people standing around with signs harassing people to scan the QR codes were valid.
We might go to CABO and skip stupid taxes plus the inflated prices for everything.
No one likes being Nicole and dimed

Hi, will there be any consequences if we didn’t pay the taxes?? Do l have to pay even l was born in México living in the USA??
Thank you.

This looks to be outdated as the FAQ on the government site indicates 4 years old is the threshold for payment.

I am just going to state the same thing. After a month in Mexico, we were told we could not leave the country if this tax was not paid, so I went online and took care of it. At no point ever in leaving Cancun did any official ask to see the receipt or proof it had been paid. I wish I had seen this before, I would not have paid. This money is probably going straight to the building of Tren Maya, which should only be done after infrastructure in these little towns are upgraded to support all the tourism the train will bring.

Hi Sarah – Great article ! I have a permanent residente card and live near Merida. Sometimes I might fly out of Cancun because it’s cheaper. Would Ineed to pay the tax ?

Thanks so much !

Bob S.

Hi Sarah, thank you for providing all this information. It is really helpful!
May I please just check that when I am starting to complete the form, it is asking for my departure date/ Does that mean when I depart the UK to fly to Cancun, or is it the date I leave Cancun?
Many thanks,
Amanda

This is odd, I went to Mexico on 2009 as part of a foreign exchange program in the university and left the country through Cancun. This tax was already in place as the check-in line was full of confused passengers that didn’t have any idea what was going on because they apparently weren’t told by their booking companies of such a thing. The tax back then for Europeans was 50€, a lot more than 11$.

Luckily, because I already had paid plenty of money for my student visa, I was exempt of paying this tax, but I wonder if this “Visitor Tax” currently is something else entirely as what I saw in 2009 and I will face a surprise at the airport having to pay even more or I wonder that if I pay online at Visitax everything will be just fine? Speaking to my guide in Mexico right now she is mentioning the 50€ thing as well.

Hi, I’ve recently purchase the tax for my upcoming holiday. I believed I was on the correct website but turns out it was visitax.gob.eu instead of .mx & I’ve been charged $96 instead of $22 (for 2 people). I’ve received QR codes in my email, but I just wanted to check if these are still legitimate at all?
I’ve read previous comments on here that this is just through another company & they’ve charged me a fee, but I’m just concerned if I now need to rebuy them through the official website still or if these unfortunately expensive ones will be viable?
It doesn’t appear I’ll be able to get a refund from the non-official website, but if they work they work, it is what it is. I would just like confirm if I need to still purchase (correctly this time) or not.
Thank you

Is anyone else having trouble with the website to pay you taxes. After putting in all the information it either freezes or times out and takes me back to the beginning. Starting to get a bit frustrated on the number of times I have tried

I accidentally put the departure date as a date I was traveling to Mexico not the day I was leaving Mexico.
What can be done to correct this?

I just paid the tax directly through Visitax and they’re now charging you 259 pesos, but the email sent by the airline says it’s 224 pesos. I have a feeling this is one of those taxes that they implement with a semi-noble goal of acquiring X dollars to address a specific problem, then the tax stays for perpetuity. Like the toll roads in certain US states.

I have paid the departure tax however the code is showing my arrival date rather than my departure date will this be an issue?

My boyfriend and I arrived in Cancun late and were one of the last people to get our luggage. As we were leaving the airport we were stopped and searched. There is a new rule that only allows one computer per person which we were not aware of. I was sneaking away from work for his birthday so I had to bring my work computer with me.. I also am a student finishing classes so I have my personal computer as well. They charged us tax as if we bought the laptop here of $160. And the kicker is I have 2 laptops and my boyfriend has 1 but his is a very expensive one so they forced him to pay the tax even though he is we only in possession of one laptop. It was robbery. Pure geeed and I am completely disgusted. Even when we tried to argue the point that I am the one with 2 computers they refused to listen and threatened us with jail. I would have left that very second if I could have. I don’t want to spend a penny in a country that singles out tourists on vacation to have a good time and harasses them and demands money. I am truly disgusted and can’t believe that just happened. I feel like we were robbed and there is nothing you can do about it. Thanks Mexico. Hope you find other suckers to steal from because it won’t be us. Never again.

Hello – I am thouroughly confused. There is so much conflicting information about both the Tourist Card and also the Visitax. We are traveling to quintana roo on March 16 and not sure if we need to do the online tourist card and also if we need to pay the visitax. There are also sites that have different prices. So i am trying to make sure we go to the official sites for both of these things if they are both necessary to do. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

Ha? very first trip I to Cancun back in late 80’s , travel agency automatically took tourist tax on my booking, back then it was, I believe $10 USD or $12 Canadian. At one point, this tax was paid upon Cancun departure at the Cashier Register, before going through Customs/Immigration.
Tourist tax has always been in place, now it’s Visitor tax? is that not same as Tourist tax?
Tourists and Visitor is same to me.

So if we pay the visitax before we go does that mean that we dont have to pay a hotel tax for each night we stay at the resort when we arrive?

I’ve never heard of this tax, nor have I ever paid such a tax in the many, many times I’ve vacationed in Playa and Cozumel. I’m not thinking it is enforced. Never had a problem.

You mentioned that children under age of 15 do not need to pay the tourist tax. I see in the FAQ on the website https://www.visitax.gob.mx/sitio/ that it has the following question and answer which contradicts your statement.

3. There is no Adult/Child rate. – I understand that the same rate applies to both Adult & Child however, do all children regardless of their age pay? What about infants?

R: Dear user, all foreign tourists must pay for this.