KRALENDIJK- Tourism Corporation Bonaire (TCB) continues to insist -against its better judgement- that the new tax of 75 dollars for tourists from outside the islands of the former Netherlands Antilles is not a new tax.

On Thursday, the TCB sent out a news item about questions and answers about the new tax. The answer to the question ‘Is the Visitor Entry Tax an additional tax?’ is: ‘The Visitor Entry Tax is not a new or additional tax. It replaces what was previously known as the ‘room tax’ and the ‘rental car tax’ on the island”.

In doing so, the TCB is emphatically doing violence to reality. It is a new tax ordinance, replacing the old ordinance. In addition, a significant group of tourists, who previously did not pay tax, will now pay tax. This mainly concerns family and friends visits. Tourists who re-enter the island relatively, even if only for a few days, have to pay 75 dollars again and again.

For tourists who live on an island of the former Netherlands Antilles, the rate is 10 dollars per visit, but also without a maximum.