Macri's Tourism Plan Neglects Argentines and Immigrants

Argentine President Mauricio Macri’s government recently cut taxes for foreign tourists at the same time that Argentine citizens are trying to make ends meet as local electricity and transportation prices surge. The change is aimed at stimulating tourism as the country’s currency and economy falls, but for the local working population, Macri's recent laws have left many out in the cold. 

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As part of the government decree from January, foreign tourists will be given a refund of the Value Added Tax, VAT, for hotels and accommodation across the country. If tourists can prove that they are not Argentine and pay with a foreign credit card, they will be given an automatic refund of the 21 percent tax.

In recent years, visitor numbers to South America have been increasing, but Argentina has seen the largest drop in the region, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. The new tax refund hopes to stimulate international tourists by around 95,000 each year, creating 8,000 new jobs and injecting around US$70 million into Argentina’s economy.

The move comes during a time when foreigners, particularly from neighboring countries, have come under increasing suspicion from the Argentine state. Macri recently signed an executive order to change the country’s immigration law for the deportation of foreigners who have committed crimes.

Justified as a security measure for the region, travelers can be denied entry to Argentina if they fail to disclose a criminal record in the country of origin or have a history of participation in a terrorist network, organized crime, including drug or organ trafficking, even if there is no conviction.

Deportation time will be sped up to two months and if caught, foreigners will be prohibited from returning to Argentina for a minimum of eight years and potentially permanently.

Migration advocacy groups are concerned that the decree will make it dangerous for migrants trying to cross into Argentina, and others have criticized the change as a return to immigration policies during Argentina’s dictatorship, where foreigners from poorer nations such as Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay, were seen as threats and criminalized.

“Discriminatory policies that condemn and criminalize migration are a shameful retreat to rights conquered by our peoples,” Bolivian President Evo Morales tweeted last week in reference to the decree and Macri’s plan to build a Trump-style wall along Argentina's northern border.

While the tourist industry and international visitors will be rejoicing with the tax refund, many locals have been left out in the cold by the Macri administration's harsh economic austerity measures. Since Macri took office in late 2015, inflation hit 41 percent in 2016.

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Last year saw living expenses and basic services rise by 70 per cent, transportation by 40 percent and food and beverages by 33 percent. This has been coupled by increasing unemployment, firings and a weakening of workers' rights.

Earlier this month, it was announced that electricity prices were due to rise by between 61 and 148 percent for residents, which many consumer groups say is boosting the profits of private energy companies.

Between Dec. 2015 and Nov. 2016, almost 193,000 Argentine workers lost their jobs, according to a January report by Conicet, FLACSO and the universities of La Plata and Avellanada, where neoliberal austerity was seen as a major culprit. Unemployment hit close to 10 percent, with informal labor rising to 18 percent by the end of 2016, according to the Argentine Catholic University. 

Thursday, saw the latest of ongoing protests following the dismissal of over 300 workers from the country’s largest printing plant and transit workers have also taken part in large protests.