In a press release issued this week, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) expressed the industry’s position on the inclusion of the tax known as the «Tourist Card» on airline tickets for flights to the Dominican Republic. This is a necessary requirement for foreigners to enter the territory for tourism purposes and is included in all tickets issued outside the country.
Both Dominican Republic nationals and non-citizens residents are exempt from paying the tax. The exception was made official through Resolution 217-2022.
The tax has been in force since April 2018. A year earlier, when the Dominican government first consulted airlines about the possibility of implementing this additional charge as part of the booking process, IATA responded that exemptions based on passenger nationality would be difficult to implement in reservation systems.
In subsequent meetings with the Junta de Aviación Civil (JAC), the body in charge of regulating civil aviation in the country, airline representatives again stressed that global reservation systems cannot differentiate applicable taxes according to nationality. For this reason, differentiated charging is not straightforward.
Due to these limitations, the Dominican administration instructed that the tax be charged at the time of issuing a new ticket, but that it be refunded later, if applicable, through a portal that the Dirección General de Impuestos Internos (DGII) would create for that purpose. Since April 2018, airlines have settled all the money collected to this government institution.
«Complex, costly and time-consuming»
«Finding an industry-wide solution is extremely complex, costly, time-consuming and contrary to the principle of global industry standards», IATA asserts. In the statement, the body explained that «the nationality of a passenger has no bearing on when customers search for fares, nor during the purchase process».
It argues that «it is unfair to require airlines to have to find, create and implement a single country solution when there are simpler and more standard processes for doing so».
Moreover, it states that «the Junta de Aviación Civil’s assertion» that it is following the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on collection by airline operators is incorrect.
In that regard, the text emphasises the difference between passenger service charges, which are designed and applied to recover the costs associated with the provision of facilities and services, and taxes. With respect to the latter, IATA notes: «It is a levy designed to raise revenue for a national or local government, which is generally not applied to civil aviation».
Possible alternatives
In this context, industry players have proposed the definitive elimination of the Tourist Card from the airline ticket and its collection through an online portal. In this respect, the largest global airline cooperation association mentioned Canada’s «electronic travel authorisation» (eTA), Suriname’s «entry fee» or Bonaire’s «visitor entry tax» as examples of alternatives. They are all paid online and separately from the airline ticket.
«As an industry, we recognise that the current situation is unfair to Dominican citizens, foreign residents and other exempt passengers», IATA said. «However, this is a matter that can only be resolved by the government of the Dominican Republic and not by the airlines», it added.
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