Cancun airport scraps customs tax charging travellers for multiple devices

Travellers heading to Cancun no longer have to worry about paying up to hundreds of dollars to customs for packing more than one laptop or tablet. 

In a Facebook video posted on Friday (Oct. 11), Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama announced Cancun International Airport (CUN) is scrapping the country's tax on foreign arrivals bringing more than one "a portable computer equipment known as laptop, notebook, Omnibook or similar" through customs, effective immediately.

“Due to several situations detected at the Cancun International Airport regarding the fee to residents and tourists in a process that has affected the image of the destination, and has generated discomfort and inconveniences of our visitors, prohibiting tourists from bringing personal equipment of more than a laptop and a tablet ... we have decided to eliminate the criteria that imposed a fee to incoming passengers bringing a computer and a tablet to Cancun International Airport,” Gov. Lezama said in the video statement. 

The tax previously charged travellers 19 per cent of the deemed value up to $4,000 of the second device, according to the country's General Rules for Foreign Trade, under Baggage and Passenger Allowance.

Although the law had been around for years, it was enforced on and off.

Quintana Roo’s governor acknowledged the rule was outdated and did not conform to the modern leisure traveller or business travelers visiting the region for conferences.

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