Mexico Poised to Charge $42 Per Head Cruise Ship Passenger Tax

Mexico’s lower house of Congress voted last week to charge a $42 tax for every cruise passenger on a ship that docks in Mexico. The Mexican Senate has yet to vote on the bill, but could do so as early as this week.

The potential for such a hefty tax has the cruise industry up in arms, particularly because two-thirds of the money raised would go to the Mexican army and not to cruise-related infrastructure projects.

According to an AP Press article, the Mexican Association of Shipping Agents said the charges could affect Mexico’s “competitiveness with other Caribbean destinations.”

The group called on Mexico’s Senate not to approve the measure.

The tax would make Mexican ports some of the most expensive in the world. In the past, when destinations tried to charge hefty fees, cruise lines pulled the majority of their ships and redeployed them elsewhere. In 2010, for instance, the industry reduced its deployment in Alaska, when ports there wanted to charge a hefty per person passenger fee. By 2012, the state had reduced the fee to bring ships back.

The Mexican Association of Shipping Agents is not the only industry association pushing back.

According to the Independent, the Florida and Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) issued a statement saying, “Cruise lines are already actively considering significantly altering itineraries, which would reduce the more than 10 million passengers and 3,300 cruise ship arrivals expected to visit Mexico in 2025.”

Furthermore, the group said, the tax could “also jeopardize the cruise industry’s investments in the country, including billions in planned developments and other projects intended to help rebuild Acapulco and cultivate new Mexican tourist destinations.”

One such project that could be at risk is Royal Caribbean’s recently announced Perfect Day Mexico, which is set to debut in Costa Maya in 2027.  

The FCCA has sent a letter to the Mexican President to ask that she eliminate the tax should it pass.

Though cruise lines already pay taxes and fees for docking, cruise passengers have typically been exempted from so-called “immigration” fees as they sleep on the ship. When a passenger tax is imposed the funds go to tourism infrastructure, as with the new $5 per person tax at Quintana Roo ports that starts in 2025.

“It is necessary to eliminate the exemption from immigration document payment for foreign passengers who enter Mexico aboard cruise ships,” the new law states, according to The AP.