Bahamas to Implement Increased Cruise Passenger Taxes in 2024

Government officials in The Bahamas revealed that the implementation of a new tax on cruise ship passengers would not go into effect until 2024.

According to The Tribune, Bahamian Tourism Minister Chester Cooper met with representatives from the major cruise lines serving the island nation last week, with the company’s lobbying the politician to delay the implementation of the cruise passenger tax increases.

TravePulse’s Brian Major reported that The Bahamas government planned to increase fees collected for each passenger from $18 to $30. As part of the legislation, the fees would jump from $18 to $23 for all travelers departing via Nassau or Freeport and a $5 per-person “tourism environmental levy” would be added.

In addition, the bill also included a $2 per-person “tourism enhancement levy” for every cruise passenger arriving or leaving The Bahamas. The tourism enhancement fee was initially scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2024, but the original reports suggested the other taxes would be applied starting on July 1.

“They’ve made certain representations,” Cooper told The Tribune. “We’ve taken those into consideration. The prime minister and I have spoken. We will speak at our cabinet level. One of the issues were that they wanted to be able to recapture all of the taxes from their customers, etc.”

“I won’t go into all of the details in terms of what their representations were,” Cooper continued. “Suffice to say, we’ve already given a seven-month delay in the implementation of the tax.”

During his comments, Cooper also claimed the government’s intentions were always to implement all phases of the new taxes in January 2024, “despite what was in the bill tabled in the House of Assembly,” according to The Tribune.

“The intended date of the tax is and always was January 1, 2024,” Cooper said. “It’s always been that. That’s factored into the revenues, and as it stands, that’s the date for implementation.”

Earlier this month, Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy told Travel Weekly aboard the Carnival Venezia’s inaugural sailing out of New York that she wanted to see the tax delayed.

Cooper said the Bahamian government is looking to “nearly triple” the money it makes from cruise line passengers, with an estimated $145 million in forecasted revenue, an increase from the $50 million budgeted for the current fiscal year.