Increased fees for airport users
Persons using local airports to travel internationally will now have to pay $50 in fees to the Government of the Virgin Islands.
A breakdown of this fee — which largely has not sat well with residents — shows that persons will be required to pay $15 on departure tax, $5 on security tax, and $30 on what the BVI Airports Authority is describing as an Airport Development Fee (ADF).
The ADF for domestic/inter-island travel is $5.
“Persons travelling on airlines that DO NOT include the ADF in their ticket will be required to pay same at the departure tax booth prior to proceeding through security,” the BVIAA said in a media release on Friday.
The aforementioned levies are part of a list of increased fees and additional charges the BVIAA put into effect on March 1.
Airport p
These levies also include new charges for persons who utilise their parking lot at the airport.
Below are the airport’s parking lot fees
30 minutes — $1
31 to 59 minutes — $1.50
60 to 119 minutes — $2
120 to 179 minutes — $3
180 to 239 minutes — $ 4
Every additional 60 minutes (or part thereof after 239 minutes $1)
Maximum per day up to 7 days — $ 12
Parking beyond seven days three times the daily parking rate for each day or part of each day the vehicle remains parked (Order 2008)
Monthly Pass (Vehicle) Parking Lot — $30
Annual Pass (Vehicle) Parking Lot — $300
Towed Vehicles (parked in front of Terminal for more 10 minutes) — $150 Lost Ticket Fee — $ 100
Monthly Parking for Designated Vehicles — $ 50
Destruction of Ticket Arm — $ 500
Vehicles in the airport’s parking lot for more than six months will be towed. And if left unclaimed two months from
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NDP was dead set on pushing that Airport project despite losing $7.2 million. With all the problems we are facing today with no water, power going multiple times a week, sewage, high cost of living the Airport expansion is not a priority. Everybody that wants to come to the BVI is coming to the BVI. Going through STT is actually a blessing for us as tourist get to see an overdeveloped, commercialized version of ourselves and then they see us and know who are the real Virgin Islands.
Yeah, a country with no water, electricity going multiple times a week, sewage and a high cost of living.
The real virgin islands.
Don’t exaggerate. We do have water and why should we not have sewage; every other country in the world has sewage. When the current goes, it’s an opportunity to do something else for a while until it comes back. No big deal. Stop being so self absorbed.
The cost of living is reasonable given how small and remote we are and I’d rather live here than that stinking hole of over-development, violence, greed and shiny baubles that is St. Thomas.
Talk about shooting themselves in the foot! $50 in taxes before you even pay for your flight! outrageous….well done BVI Airports Authority you are fast nailing the coffin shut. You should be encouraging more customers to fly not keep hitting them with ludicrous taxes….Massive dis-incentive
You don’t pay the taxes before you pay for your flight. You pay for them afterwards. $50 is little disincentive to someone coming here to stay a while who can by definition afford the airfares. I think a lot of people see this from our perspective (locals) rather than from the perspective of the vast majority of users of the airport who are not from here and for whom $50 is nothing.
So says someone who doesn’t realize that it is charged on EVERYONE leaving the BVI. Including citizens.
Ooops
I AM a citizen. All my life! Of course I know we have to pay too but that’s my point. We live in a small place that is inherently expensive so we shouldn’t be surprised when we have to pay for things. The wealthy people we must attract so we don’t get swamped by cruise ships understand that which is why it’s no problem for them to pay fifty bucks. If the money gets spent wisely there should be no problem but that’s a different question.
We BVIslanders actually pay so little for what we have. Have you ever taken a look at what we pay in land tax compared to foreigners? It’s tiny.We need to be fair about this.
A family of four coming on holiday has to pay $200.
And no one thinks this is off putting to tourists.?
The real problem is the incompetent management of the airport. Managed in the usual BVI fashion, by someone’s cousin, not someone who has a clue.
No, it’s not a big deal to the family of four who can afford the flights and lodgings and provisions in the first place.
I am coming to the BVI’s for a sailing charter, bringing my family of 5. I came for the first time last year and was glad to do would I could to help your devastated islands. I am paying for my adult children and I have to say paying $250 just to leave the islands feels like an extreme rip-off and certainly exorbitant. Just because I am lucky enough to afford the vacation doesn’t mean that the fee is justified or financially painless. Probably would not keep me from coming in the future but might change my travel arrangements. Just seems like a bad idea/policy and doesn’t engender any feelings of goodwill.
We do not mind the increase but could the airport outline what value for money we would be receiving? Would we get AC in the terminal? Would we get sufficient seating in depature that when Liat and Seaborne are boarding no one has to stand? Will the parking lot be functioning? Are there better connections to the world? Would the compound be better kept? Would something be done with the cars parked in front the terminal, which poses a problem for drop off and pick up? If their answers are yes, then i approve the increase.
We don’t want AC in the airport! It’s fine with the big fans and we are trying to reduce our pollution, not increase it. It sends a great message to visitors about our efforts to limit climate change.
I’ve never once been too hot there. I’ve also never had to stand nor seen anyone else having to stand and I use the airport at least once a month.
You don’t make sense, if planes are boarding, why would you be sitting down? You need to be getting on the plane…..
I’ve never had a problem with dropping anyone off out front either. Maybe you are just unlucky.
Why use the parking lot? Park by the road like everyone else! It’s free!!!
Where can you not connect to? I can get all over the world from here.
I assume that the reason they are jacking up the prices is because the airport cannot make enough money to cover its costs.
That doesn’t bode well for expensive airport expansion projects.
Or maybe they just want more money. Just a thought.
Good way to encourage use of the facility…..NOT
constant increases in user fees does not bode well for the territory . If tourism is one of the industries that we are trying to develop then we should be lowering all these fees .
We should be encouraging tourism but not increasing tourist numbers. A small place like this will destroy itself if we chase more tourists. We need sustainable lower numbers of wealthier tourists because they will have less impact on our environment and infrastructure and employ more of us locals per head. They will disappear if we overcrowd the BVI with mass tourism just for the sake of numbers and we will end up like St. Thomas. A $50 tax won’t put off the kinds of tourists that we really need. I understand it is a lot for us to pay but in the long run it will benefit each of us personally if we have a decent place to live and a Government that can invest it sensibly as I outline above.
Thanks for listening and have a beautiful day!
Wealthy tourists????
Are you insane? So you want the elite 1% who look down on you and the territory like a playground that is theirs to control via the dollars they spend? How stupid you are. We need tourists from all walks of life – cruise ships, resorts, bareboats, etc to survive. We have NO economy other than tourism and finance and the finance sector is going away soon. We do not open our books to the world and they blacklist us. Why is that? What have we to hide? Apparently quite a bit…
No we need to attract everyone here, not just the wealthy.
You could not be more wrong. Mass tourism is ok if you have the space and infrastructure. We have neither. You just get trashed for little benefit. Just look at St. Thomas to see what happens. I don’t care how much money someone has compared to me, I care what their presence in my country does for my country. Yours is the mindset of envy and you have no reason to assume that some with more money than you looks down on you. That maybe says more about your own insecurity than any assumed opinion they may have.
Who will be feeling this?
As they will say ISLAND PEOPLE. we are the only one MUST depart from the airport. Help us Lord
Don’t tourists have to leave too?
You’ll be glad to be reminded that all members are government get free airport parking, for private or business use.
The pigs must walk on their hind legs.
It’s actually $57…
There is also a “Hold Baggage Screening Fee” of $7 that each departing passenger has to pay. This is not new; it has been included in the tickets for a long time but it’s still worth mentioning since we’re talking about outrageous fees…
See [AIRPORTS (FEES AND CHARGES) ORDER, 2019][SCHEDULE 2][PARAGRAPH H.][ITEM 16.]
Yes, it’s outrageous. As a middle income tourist that had planned a family visit, I take it as the final straw to cancel and look elsewhere. Flight prices are already credibly steep. We’d thought some contribution would help you back on your feet, but I’m sorry you have cut your own nose to spite your face. Best of luck with the wealthy 1%.