Cruise passengers ‘need to pay their fair share’ of environmental levy- Hon Flax-Charles
The Environmental and Tourism Levy of $10.00, to be paid upon arrival at all ports of entry, became effective on September 1, 2017.
Exemptions
All visitors aged three years and older are expected to pay the levy; however, legislation makes provision for exemptions for residents and belongers; non-residents two years or under; officers of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court; guests of the Government; official representatives of the Government of any country/Territory; persons accorded diplomatic privileges in accordance with the Diplomatic Privileges Ordinance; and persons exempted by the Minister by Order published in the Gazette
Other exemptions include visitors arriving in the Virgin Islands on a second or subsequent occasion in the course of the same visit; persons in transit who on arrival do not leave the airport or dock; crew of vessels and cruise passengers arriving to the Territory via cruise lines, according to Government Information Services (GIS) on May 25, 2018.
Pay ‘fair share’- Hon Flax-Charles
“The cruise passengers, we welcome them, we love to have them, but they need to pay their fair share.
“And I don’t want anybody to take it out of context. I don’t have an issue with cruise passengers, but if the land-based and the charter yachts pay that environmental levy when those passengers come in to hop onboard those yachts or go into the hotels and villas, we need to take a closer look,” Hon Flax-Charles stated during her contribution to the Budget Debate during the Continuation of the Ninth Sitting of the Fourth Session of the Fourth House of Assembly (HoA) at Save the Seed Energy Centre in Duff's Bottom, Tortola, on December 20, 2022.
The At-Large Representative argued that the Territory needs revenue and making cruise passengers pay the environmental levy is a way to get additional revenues into the coffers.
‘Average American tourist has no issue paying’
“We are not going to nickel and dime persons, but the average American tourist has no issue whatsoever paying to assist in maintaining Nature’s Little Secrets, and yes I said it because we are still Nature’s Little Secrets,” Hon Flax-Charles said.
Funds generated from the Environmental and Tourism Levy are supposed to be used to protect the Territory’s environment; and are meant to be applied towards activities related to environmental protection and improvement, minimising climate change, maintaining and developing tourism sites, and other tourism activities.
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43 Responses to “Cruise passengers ‘need to pay their fair share’ of environmental levy- Hon Flax-Charles”
properly accounted and transparent records are kept by independent experts to show the money is spent on the environment. Trouble is, we don’t trust
our politicians to go that because they have been shown to be corrupt. This is why we need the English to help us to put in place such oversight.
A better solution may be to ask the cruise ship companies themselves to pay the tax and they can build it into their rates rather than an immediate tax to passengers. Besides, will you go stand up on the pier and collect this tax per person?
What fair share is she talking about? They would do well to think before the talk this type of nonsense. The cruise shippers pay $15 per head in tax on arrival to the BVI which is twice or more than is paid at the other Caribbean Ports. Everything is pay pay pay pay pay and what are you doing with the @*&% money? We need to elect people with brains instead of these idiots who wake up each day and say what is on their mind instead of making sensible, factual statements.
The $15 goes to the BVI Ports Authority which is a statutory body of the Government. This money grab mentality while not using the funding for its intended purpose is BAD BAD BAD and NASTY of the BVI. You tax expat workers on their ALREADY TAXED INCOME to send money home to their family, we tax visitors an environmental fee, for what? We have @#$^& old cars in Pock Wood Pond 5 years now, we are open burning our garbage, the roadsides are filthy, mangroves dirty as hell, ports of entry shameful and rundown. What are we doing with all the money we charge people? Cruisers should not have to pay no damn environmental fee! They come here to spend the day, they spend money with taxis/tours, beach bars, regular bars, pharmacies, restaurants and so on. This talk about cruise ships doing nothing for the economy was totally debunked by COVID when they were away for 18 months. Look at the difference in businesses now that they are back. The Government needs to stop giving BVI Tourist Board over $10 million annually for NOTHING. They are grossly overstaffed and grossly underperforming.
But tis ayo elec de set a green one without so much as a short course in economics under dem belt. Half caan even string a decent email together. no relevant experience jus street talk in the house.
Once opon a time looooong ago young people coudda learn something from legco but now em em em
COI goin on and dem in standing finance talking bout so wa if a fell retaining wall on private property he shod b able to help. Mussy
It is important for small island developing states to consider benefits versus negative impacts and short term versus long term effects of everything that is done on the islands since islands are extremely dynamic and sensitive to changes. It is clear that the cruise ship industry cannot continue as is due to its destructive nature to the island's ecosystems which run hand in hand with small island economies. Thus changes need to be made at a high government level to implement regulations, having a regulating body in place would be greatly beneficial for the sustainable running of cruises if they wanted to continue visiting our island paradise. Some changes that could be made on the island level are: (1) Charging cruises an additional pollution tax based on the number of passengers they carry; (2) put in place a limit to the amount of water we can realistically provide the cruises per season based on predicted severity of dry season; (3) Put in place strict environmental and garbage disposal regulations with fines and officers to oversee the implementation.
These cruises also need more regulations, specifically environmental, some of these should be: (1) A proper ways to dispose of their wastewater; (2) Able to store most of their own fresh water and have a compulsory desalination plant so they do not deplete the water on the islands; (3) Brief their passengers on proper etiquette on the island when it comes to littering and disposal of trash, educate them on problems the trash can cause to the economies of the island; (4) Have green technology on board in order to reduce their carbon emissions from the large amount of gasoline used for traveling and to lessen air and water pollution (possibly only be allowed to emit a certain amount of carbon, or have a carbon trading system between cruise lines). With these recommendations put in place and cooperation with the cruise industry, this sector of tourism may be able to be sustainable and environmentally friendly, thus the tourist can continue to sustainably visit the islands having limited negative effects on their futures.
So let me get this straight. @#$%&*^ with the environment and leaving the place nasty is fine as long as only locals are allowed to do it? All this nonsense about how cruise ships impact our environment negatively and nothing about the nasty people that live here? Garages on every corner with old cars which are a breeding ground for mosquitos and rodents thereby causing sickness and disease. Open burning of garbage, raw sewerage running in the streets, mangroves filthy, ponds filled in for private land and greed, beaches overtaken by bars, chairs and stores but this is the expat/tourists/cruises fault? Remove the cruise ships and this place is still stink as sh**, nasty and unhealthy. Always someone else to blame!
You hit the nail on the head! A majority of the cruisers themselves have a regard to the environment, but first impressions are lasting. Step off the ship and you have the lovely Road Harbour to greet you! Sunken boats, oil sheen on the water, garbage in the sea, the smell of raw sewage, dead animals (mostly chickens that sh88 everywhere), overflowing rubbish bins (if your lucky to find one). These things are not caused by cruise ships or their passengers it is caused by low dollar residents and a broke @$$ government! No pride here, locals has blinders on in the shape of dollar bills. They don’t see the overflowing dumpsters on their way to work, they don’t smell the sh** on their shoes when they take them off, when the big bag of garbage they carrying comes off the roof of their car you think they stop to pick it up? Hahaha! Go ahead and raise the fees for tourists, cruisers or any type visitor, won’t change a thing BVI low dollar and always will be. Shame!
All the negative comments here are a bunch a##es. And I know this sound like you all are the paid bloggers. And most of you know the woman is speaking the GOD DANM TRUTH. Everywhere else the cruisers pay the levies. The negotiators clearly don’t understand the cruise industry. We don’t need to beg the cruisers to come, they need us more than we need them. So the past premier went and do a bum job and beg them to come. There is so much most of y’all don’t know. We are the highlight of the whole Caribbean and that’s the truth. BVI, know your worth, we are not beggars. From Cuba, the Bahamas all the way down island they pay environmental levies except here.