Taxing tourists to manage mass tourism: a case study of Macao

ABSTRACT

This research letter provides a commentary on the issues surrounding the introduction of a tourist tax to Macao, although the casino city is one of the wealthiest globally. Macao's tourism authorities have suggested assimilating locations such as Venice and Japan who have recently introduced additional tourist levies. With tourism taxes used to address market failure or a need for additional revenues, Macao's motive is the former due to significant increases in mass tourism, particularly from China. Resident to visitor ratio stands at 1:60. This letter will show that the Macao tourist tax suggestion lacks scrutiny and scientific rigor, and runs contrary to tourism tax literature that advocates a thorough analysis towards an optimum and equitable tax framework.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourist tax
• government revenue
• carrying capacity
• tourism management
• Chinese tourists

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.