Bonaire’s New Streamlined Visitors Entry Tax

Tourism Corporation Bonaire (TCB) issued a public request for proposal (RFP) on September 28th, 2021 in pursuit of Innovation, Digital and information technology companies to develop an innovative platform/online environment for the collection of newly proposed tourist entry tax (by non-residents).

TCB has been appointed by Public Entity Bonaire (OLB) as the entity responsible for the creation of the online platform with the aim to synchronize its off-island communication efforts into one destination portal.

TCB is happy to share that several Innovation, Digital and information technology companies from the region, Europe and USA have shown interest and applied to be part of the published RFP within the deadline of October 8th, 2021. TCB has installed an internal committee of several professional representatives to select the best partner for the job based on a set list of criteria as published within the RFP publication. All proposals have been reviewed by TCB’s committee according to the following criteria: Understanding of scope of work and objectives, Plan of approach, strategy, and methodology. As well as, relevant prior experience, Quality of professional staff assigned to the project and the budget.

Due to the postponement of the approval (April 13th, 2022) of the Entry Tax legislation by OLB, the decision by TCB to select a partner for the development of this online platform for the collection of the entry tax as referred to in the RFP also had to be postponed until late April 2022. TCB’s committee has revisited all proposals received since October 2021 and has recently (April 2022) selected IBIS Management Associates Inc (“IBIS”) based in Curaçao, to develop and lead the project on behalf of TCB and its stakeholders for the implementation of the new Entry Tax platform.

TCB shares that IBIS Management Associates’ success is based on an extensive understanding of straight-through payment processing solutions. IBIS strength also lies in the reporting needs of Financial Institutions and Corporations as well as the delivery of solutions that easily integrate with the existing core systems and business processes. IBIS serves over 40 Financial Institutions and Corporations throughout the greater Caribbean, Central and South America and has built a loyal base of banking clients around the world. The engagement of IBIS for this important project for Bonaire is primarily based on the requirements and complexity of this new entry tax platform and also based on the past experiences IBIS Management has in delivering secure government and travel portals. IBIS also specializes in Profitable Efficiency, Straight Through Payment Processing, Digital Banking, and Online Security.

TCB will be organizing several stakeholder sessions during the next three months starting June 2022 to update on the progress/implementation of the new entry tax platform. The new platform will be available in mid-June 2022 and will be shared with all stakeholders accordingly. For any questions and or inquiries regarding the implementation of the new Streamlined Visitors Entry Tax please contact marketing@tourismbonaire.com