New tourist fees on Japan’s Mount Fuji, Bali, Thailand and elsewhere, plus travel tips
Many popular spots worldwide are introducing tourist fees for the first time or raising those that already exist. We take a look at some
It makes perfect sense: slap a visitors’ fee onto your overly popular country/city/attraction and not only are you likely to reduce tourist numbers to more manageable levels, but you will also ensure the experience is more pleasant for those who still come, while adding cash to the public coffers that could be earmarked for restoration and the upkeep of your golden-egg-laying goose.
Park fees that run to hundreds of US dollars have long been charged to people wishing to climb Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, for instance, and Bhutan has levied its daily Sustainable Development Fee, currently US$100 per adult, since 1974.
But many of the world’s most popular destinations are introducing taxes, levies, fees – whatever you wish to call them – for the first time this summer, or significantly raising those that already exist, as they deal with the post-Covid resurgence in travel.
Here are some of the major developments, and a tip or two on how to avoid the worst of the crush.
