Rio Proposes Tax To Pay Tourists When They Are Mugged

Famous for its beaches, carnivals, and parties, Rio De Janeiro in Brazil is one of the world's famous tourist getaways. However, Rio has been getting a bad wave of publicity recently, in concern with their problem with street crime.

Rio De Janeiro is known to be a very dangerous city. They have one of the highest crime rates in the world, with the amount of this year's street robberies doubled than last year. With this, mayor-elect Marcello Crivella, who will be inaugurated on January 1 in the coming year, sought out a solution to help Rio overcome their negative image.

Mr. Crivella proposed to make tourists pay tax and use it to help them reimburse their possessions in case they get mugged. He plans to include the tax on the airplane tickets, or it could be somewhat imposed during the entry visa.

Rio's mayor-elect thought this would be an ingenious way to help boost the tourism in their city. He plans to increase the amount of tourists visiting Rio in his term, and this plan would be a great help to it.

"Rio de Janeiro cannot continue treating its tourists as if they were an afterthought. This is something we need to discuss", the mayor said. This is one of his plans to reinvent Rio, and the mayor, who is also a high-ranking bishop in one of Brazil's mega-churches, is positive that his plan will work.

However, not everyone in his administration agrees with the proposal. Some of them think that this will, in fact, drive more tourists away, rather than attract them more. Mário Beni, a tourism industry scholar said, "Creating such a tax makes no sense, unless the aim is to discourage tourism in Rio de Janeiro."

Local residents of Rio or Cariocas, as what they are commonly called, also pointed out their distress and said that they are also common victims of mugging and not just the tourists. According to Conde Nast Traveler, they also want their mayor to think of another way that would benefit both tourists and locals, as the street crimes were becoming a terrible nuisance.

Many others criticized this proposal made by Mr. Crivella. As the mayor's term wouldn't start until January 1, it is not sure whether the local government would seriously turn this into law. Meanwhile, local authorities hand out safety tips to tourists and locals, to avoid them getting robbed.