The
bill No.20,576 goal is to
charge $15 to any tourist
who enters the country by
land or sea.
/ A.M. Costa
Rica wire services photo
|
Tourism
rejects the new bill for an
extra charge $15 to tourist
By the
A.M. Costa Rica staff
Authorities of the Costa Rican
Tourism Institute oppose to the
$15 extra charge bill that will
make prices more expensive for
tourists.
Maria Amalia Revelo, the Tourism
minister, said the agency
rejects bill No.20,576, which is
being studied by deputies in the
Legislative Assembly, and whose
goal is to charge $15 to any
tourist who enters the country
by land or sea.
"We are growing in quality and
quantity, the logical thing in
an environment of economic
reactivation, is to protect the
development of tourism, an
industry that generates
employment and social progress,"
said the minister.
In addition to this bill,
another one is also being
analyzed. That is bill
No.21,152, which would force
tourists to have medical
insurance with Social Security
(known as CCSS).
According to Revelo, this bill
threatens the autonomy of
administration of social
insurance and is also
incompatible with the relation
between worker-employer legal
requirements, and on the other
hand the concept of registration
of a tourist to the Social
Security system.
According to the Revelo, also
the Ministry of Labor is
opposing this bill because the
concept of Social Security was
created to protect the
relationship between boss and
employee, and also in accordance
with Article 73, second
paragraph, of the Political
Constitution, "insurance
(referring to social insurance
as protection for the worker and
their family) may not be
transferred or used for purposes
other than social insurance."
According to the statistics of
the Tourism Institute, in 2018,
for the first time, were
registered more than three
million arrivals of
international tourists to the
country.
Between January and May of 2019,
the growth of international
arrivals by air was 5 percent.
Most of the tourists came from
Canada 11 percent; Germany
13.1 percent,
Austria 6.3 percent, United
States 5.9 percent; ; and the
United Kingdom 5.6 percent.
According to the statistics of
the Central Bank, the tourism
sector increased from 4.4
percent in 2012 to 6.3 percent
in 2016. In addition, the
tourism sector employs at least
211,213 workers.
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Could the new two
bills diminish the attractive of
Costa Rica for tourists? We
would like to know your thoughts
on this story. Send your
comments to: news@amcostarica.com
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