The bill to lower the price of air tickets to Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic is generating controversy in the Legislative Assembly.The Government opposes the initiative and therefore, the ruling faction presented 63 motions, of which, after two plenary sessions and one hour and 45 minutes of discussion, only one has been voted on.
The initiative by Eli Feinzaig of the PLP seeks to reduce the taxes paid for air tickets and that the final price of a trip to the Central American area, round trip, does not exceed $126, taxes included.
The position of the Executive and the pro-government deputies is that this would generate a serious impact on Costa Rican tourism, since those who visit the country would not stay the average 13 days that they usually do, but would take the opportunity to travel to other countries.In addition, they consider that a fiscal gap would be generated by the reduction in taxes.
What does the tourism sector say about this? Do you agree or against the initiative?
The National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) indicated that they are in the process of forming a criterion in this regard. This week they met with Deputy Feinzaig and the Minister of Tourism, William Rodríguez “to have first-hand information since there is no legislative commission doing this study work.”The project was exempt from processing and skipped the commission, which is why it is being seen directly in the Plenary.
Request to deputies
On August 12, Canatur, through director Shirley Calvo, sent a note to the deputies in which they requested a period of time to analyze the scope of the initiative.They had made this request the previous April; However, finally the Assembly decided to waive the processing file.
“It is urgent to reiterate the request we made in the month of April, which consists of opening a sufficient and opportune space of time to be able to calmly discuss this initiative and its eventual changes in the event that the approval of this motion is successful,” says the text of the letter sent to legislators.Deputy Feinzaig is working on a replacement text that would have two changes. This is how the legislator explained it when consulted by El Observador.
“We are preparing a substitute text to address an observation made in the technical services report, so that it is clear that, in the case of flights originating at the Liberia Airport, the municipalities of the province will continue to receive the same amount that they received. assigns article 2 of the law,” he said in the first instance.
“In addition, we will be raising the maximum ticket value to $50 before taxes (the original sets it at $40), to encourage more airlines to be able to offer this type of low-cost tickets,” he added about the changes they are seeking.
Would not affect
For the Tourism Association for Costa Rica, which brings together several organizations in the country’s tourism sector, the project would not cause any harm, as the Government wants to show.
This was stated by Bary Roberts, representative of that group, who considered that luxury tourism that comes to the country does not do so thinking about going to another Central American nation.
“The claim that lowering rates would negatively impact high-end tourism is false,” Roberts said.He considers that the measure is positive, because another type of market would be attracted and that would increase tourism to the country.
“The reduction in rates on domestic and regional flights is not only a necessary measure to revitalize the tourism and business sector in Costa Rica and does not seem to represent any type of threat to luxury tourism,” he indicated.
“Costa Rica needs to move towards a policy that allows economic and efficient access to air transportation services, supporting both local companies and professionals who contribute to the economic development of the region,” he added.
From the ruling party, deputy Pilar Cisneros maintains the position on what she considers would be serious effects on the tourism sector if the initiative advances.“The problem is that by waiving the procedure we did not listen to the criteria, neither from the ICT, nor from the chambers, and as we have received information we believe that the impact could be extremely serious,” said the deputy.
She maintains the position that tourists will not stay in the country for the average number of days they have so far and also says that there is a substantial tax reduction.“The calculation that the Treasury has made, in order to recover the taxes, is that it would have to increase the flow by 400,000 passengers.
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