MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Boarding tax in Chile increased to 30 dollars

The Chilean government decided to increase the boarding tax by four US dollars from 26 to 30 dollars, which will become effective before the end of the year.

Chilean president Ricardo Lagos made the announcement and said two dollars will be invested in the Tourism Promotion Fund and the other two to fight hunger and poverty in the continent, following on an initiative from the United Nations.

"This is an effective way of collaborating with the initiative which we sponsored with Brazilian president Lula da Silva, French president Jacques Chirac and Spanish Prime Minister Rodriguez Zapatero with the purpose of combating poverty world wide", indicated Mr. Lagos.

But the decision did not have unanimous reactions.

The Chilean tourist industry openly supports having more funds to promote travelling to Chile, but the association of Chilean airlines argued that it does not seem fair that "airlines are always chosen to promote tourism".

"The industry includes hotels, restaurants, tour operators, among others, but each time dollars are needed for tourism, international air passengers are targeted", complained Fernando Cebollero, head of the airlines association.

But Oscar Santelices, head of the Chilean Tourist Office said it was a "spectacular advance" ensuring Chile can now have a level of promotion funds similar to that of its main competitors, New Zealand, Peru, Costa Rica and Argentina.

Once the measure becomes effective the promotion fund will increase from the current 1,8 million US dollars to five million.

Mr. Santelices added that critics usually ignore the significance of tourism for Chile and underlined that the country has one of the lowest boarding taxes in Latinamerica.

"In other countries such as Peru you have to pay 15 US dollars additional just for arriving in the country".