The minister of Tabare Viera Tourism justified the decision of Executive power to decree a new “price for security service” in the tickets of people entering and leaving Uruguay by sea and river routes; and assured that “it is a small rate that will be imperceptible.”
The government decided to implement a new cost on sea and river tickets of $2.10 plus VAT — in total, approximately $2.56 — as a form of financing the improvement and modernization of the country’s border control system. Despite having disagreed at first, Minister Viera defended the provision signed by the president Luis Lacalle Pou and the ministries of Economy and Finance (MEF)of the Inside and of Transportation and Public Works (MTOP).
“This was a rate that the Executive Branch determined to be able to finance something that was desperately requested, which is the technical and technological improvement of migration control, which has a lot to do with tourism and the country,” said the leader and also pre-candidate for the Colorado Party at a press conference.
“We are always crying out for a solution, for procedures to be expedited, for there to be no queues at border crossings, and many times it was because of the technical difficulties that Migrations he had in all his behavior,” he added.
Likewise, he maintained that the tax applied – which is not a rate, since it is not regulated by law but was introduced by decree – “will be imperceptible in the cost of the ticket for river passages”, in exchange for allowing “more effectiveness and more efficiency when it comes to Immigration procedures.”
It was the way that the Executive Branch found to finance what was absolutely necessary,” he insisted.
The rejection of the tourism sector and shipping companies
Despite the government’s insistence on the insignificance of the new cost compared to the total ticket – it was an argument also used by the Undersecretary of Tourism, Remo Monzeglio—, for the Cologne Tourist Associationthe impact on the sector of the application of the price for security services will be negative.
“We identify this as a negative situation for Colonia because it is where the cost of the ticket: our destination is the destination with the shortest stay in hours of a tourist in Uruguay and we have a very large number of visitors on the day. The impact of $2.10 plus VAT within, let’s say, a budget of $5,000 is not the same in Punta del Este or on a cruise than on a ticket where this impact is an average of around 10% of the annualized ticket,” he explained to Ambit the president of the association, Andrés Castellano.
Graphed in concrete figures, the department’s tourism sector indicates that the application of the price for security service means a total of between 7.5 and 8 million dollars per year – considering round trip tickets – in a contract that will be signed for ten years—according to the tender included in the decree. “For us it has a impact on tourismespecially when we are juggling to bring the Argentines,” he added, and pointed out that, in addition, the ships already pay a migration rate for each berth in Uruguayan ports.
Also shipping companies, which must act as withholding agents, Cologne Express and Buquebus, They will appeal the measure decreed by the government because, with the collection scheme implemented, “they assume an obligation.” “They are going to present their judicial defenses by not considering this as part of an agreement,” Castellano explained.
For river companies, furthermore, the initiative is “discriminatory”, because air or land transport is not taxed. The Colonia Tourist Association also points out whether river and maritime tourism will finance improvements in immigration control in the region. dry border.
Source: Ambito
