MENTAWAI GOVERMENT SURFING TAX EFFECTIVE
ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL SURFING GUESTS VISITING THE MENTAWAIS:
NEW MENTAWAI SURFING TOURISM LEGISLATION IN EFFECT AS OF AUGUST 1, 2016
As of August 01, 2016, the Mentawai Government Tourism Department announced that the application and enforcement of the new regional tourism Laws are now finalized, and these laws are now officially enacted and apply to all surfing visitors to Mentawai.
Regional Law No. 08, November 25 Year 2015, states that each foreign surfing tourist visiting the Mentawai Islands must pay a surfing tourism tax prior to visiting, equivalent to Rp. 1.000.000 (approx. $77 USD) per maximum 15 days stay, which can be extended.
As we are a legally licensed operation, and we are therefore legally bound to ensure our company and the guests we accommodate abide by local laws, we hereby request compliance from all of our surfing visitors to pay the required surfing tourism tax at commencement of your stay, in order to be in compliance with the new legislation.
The new legislation is expected to provide significant benefits toward regulation of the surfing tourism industry, by improving management of carrying capacities of surfers in each region, reducing overcrowding, and improving the overall experience of visiting surfers.
Due to the limited time available on transfer days, and to avoid time being wasted for each guest to make payment individually to the Mentawai Tourism Office in Padang, our manager in Padang will instead be collecting this tax from guests upon arrival into Padang, and will coordinate the necessary payment and subsequent collection of wrist bands with the Mentawai Government Tourism Office.
An official ticket stating validity, name of surfing guest, along with water proof wrist band will be supplied to each surfing guest upon making the payment on your arrival, along with official receipt of payment from the Mentawai Government Tourism Office.
We have been informed there may be random inspections at any time, and we therefore request compliance from all surfing visitors to respect the new legislation.
A certified translation of the new Mentawai tourism laws will soon be posted in the booking terms section of our website, to provide transparency and to explain the intent of the new tourism laws.
