- Cancun International Airport has removed its tax on travelers bringing in more than one laptop or tablet.
- Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama announced the change, citing the tax's negative impact on tourism and the image of Cancun.
Travelers to Cancun no longer have to worry about paying up to hundreds of dollars to customs for bringing more than one laptop or tablet in their luggage.
In a Facebook video posted on Friday, Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama announced Cancun International Airport – the busiest airport in Mexico – is eliminating the country's longstanding tax on foreign arrivals bringing more than one "a portable computer equipment known as laptop, notebook, Omnibook or similar" through airport customs effective immediately.
Gov. Lezama said in the video:
Due to several situations detected at the Cancun International Airport regarding the fee to residents and tourists in a process that has affected the image of the destination, and has generated discomfort and inconveniences of our visitors, prohibiting tourists from bringing personal equipment of more than a laptop and a tablet ... we have decided to eliminate the criteria that imposed a fee to incoming passengers bringing a computer and a tablet to Cancun International Airport.
The tax previously charged travelers 19% of the deemed value up to $4,000 of the second device, according to the country's General Rules for Foreign Trade, under Baggage and Passenger Allowance. Although the law had been around for years, it was implemented on and off, according to Mexico travel experts.
In June, Tammy Levent, entrepreneur and owner of Elite Travel Management, had to pay $200 for an older-generation iPad when she went to Cancun for a work trip. It was the first time she had been charged for bringing a laptop and iPad during one of her countless visits to Cancun over the last decade. The incident felt like "extortion," she told USA TODAY.
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"You went on a business trip, you have a pharmaceutical company or a company who goes on retreats and you're going to have to say, listen you can't bring your iPad," she said. "And who's going to pay the tax, you're going to cover the $200 per person?"
Levent sent complaint letters to Mexican officials, including the Cancun Customs Administration but felt like she "wasn't getting anywhere." She reached out to the tour organizers and hotels she partners with in Cancun, and they "went to bat for me" by also writing to officials to advocate for the tax removal.
"After hearing concerns about these practices from Tammy Levent, President of Elite Travel, who initiated the conversation, we at Bookolis – a boutique DMC based in Mexico – promptly reached out to official associations, including AMATUR (Mexican Association of Receptive Tourism Agencies), under the leadership of President Sergio Gonzalez," Frank Coulier, president of Bookolis, told USA TODAY in an email.
Coulier explained that AMATUR engaged other official and governmental bodies "who were instrumental" in coordinating with the National Customs Agency of Mexico to review the matter. "Our heartfelt thanks go first and foremost to Tammy for bringing this issue to our attention," he added. "We also extend our sincere gratitude to Governor Mara Lezama of Quintana Roo for her swift and decisive action in addressing the situation."
The governor acknowledged in the video the rule was outdated and did not conform to the modern leisure traveler or business travelers visiting Quintana Roo for conferences.
After sharing her story in September, Levent said she received dozens of messages from other travelers who were unaware of the law and ended up paying hundreds at airport customs. "Nobody talked about it," she said.
Upon hearing the news of the tax being dropped, Levent urges others to "be the voice of the change."