Brazil Travel & Tourism News
RIO DE JANEIRO – The city of Bombinhas, a seaside town 70 kilometers north of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina state, is considering charging tourists a fee. The mayor of Bombinhas, Ana Paula da Silva, said the fee most likely would be set between R$50 reais ($25 US) and R$100, per vehicle, but that the details have not yet been decided.
Bombinhas needs to raise money to invest in environmental conservation projects and sanitation infrastructure. According to the mayor, 70 percent of the area is within a biological reserve.
“We have a lot of problems caused by lack of control over the number of people,” said the Bombinhas mayor. “If we do not enact a measure of access restriction, we will have serious consequences for the environment,” she added.
The city faces its greatest challenges during the summer when over 200-thousand tourists overwhelm Bombinhas’ sewage and garbage collection systems.
Bombinhas, population 17-thousand needs to invest R$120 million reais in sanitation and water supply,” said the mayor.
One of the issues not yet defined is how to calculate the fee. They mayor says that some argue that the fee should be per person, but most think it should be per vehicle entering the city. Nevertheless, the mayor argues that the charge would not be a tax, but a fee for environmental protection.
