Tourism providers look to end taxi blockades

The Mexican Association of Receptive Travel Agencies (AMATUR) officially inaugurated its branch in Puerto Vallarta this Tuesday. Its goal is to carry out joint work between tour operators, carriers and hotel associations; the main topic on the agenda will be the blockades by taxi drivers of carriers with federal license plates.

Sergio González Rubiera, national president of AMATUR, said that this association was created to represent the interests of receptive travel agencies in Cancun, Cozumel, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Maya.

One of the main problems they have faced in beach destinations is that tourist license holders with federal license plates end up being persecuted or harassed by taxi guilds or local authorities who interpret the law in their own way and do not allow them to work, making them less competitive.

We are not against taxi drivers, my respect to them, in every destination in the world there must be taxi drivers and a tourist is free to take the way of transportation that best suits them. If a tourist wants to take a taxi to play golf, he can do that and we are not against that, but what we want is for them to know what we can do with our federal plates.

They are already hired to take tourists either to the market, to play golf, or to do other types of activities and shopping, so they have already asked the three levels of government for a legal environment and a law that privileges the free right of people to decide what type of transportation is most convenient for them.

In other words, they do not want taxis to be restricted, but they also do not want them to pay extortion in order to operate, because this is unconstitutional, inefficient and unfair. For Thus, they are going to request a meeting with the state government to address this issue and allow them to operate freely in both Jalisco and Nayarit.

With reporting by Brenda Beltrán for Tribuna de la Bahía