TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Hotel tax rising to 10%

Your BVI vacation is going to cost you more. The hotel/vacation villa rental tax is going from 7% to 10%.

http://www.bviplatinum.com/news.php?articleId=1462593075

Why cut government expenses when you can just raise taxes!

I expect they will be coming after the charter boats sooner rather than later. Hotels and villas that are subject to this tax aren't exactly turning away customers. You can talk to a lot of property owners/operators and you hear the same thing, "February is the high season". Not like it was in the past. Many people we have known for years have finally voted with their feet.

Hotel tax in the USVI is 12.5%. On St. John there is no more low season. Even September gets busy. Maybe its not the hotel tax?

Cheers, RickG

After Homeaway/VRBO takes 10% and the Hotel tax takes another 3% along with increases in ferry taxes and departure tax, the tourist is taking a big hit. It will definitely decrease rentals. Maybe so much that the 3% increase may give them no more money. I guess what bothers me is that people like me have invested large sums of money and sweat equity in a villa or a hotel and other groups take money out my pocket with no investment. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Not surprising really. If you look back to around 2007 or so, the business model being widely used in the BVI was "Business is bad so I raise my price". Same thing here,with all the hotels that are closed down, just raise the tax to recoup lost revenue. Wait until the airport fiasco gets underway. Watch taxes then. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> I fully expect to see a sales tax instituted within 5 years, if not sooner.

Typical knee jerk Gov response..but,at CRC, our response will just be to keep our rental price as its been for the past five years but sadly pass that 10% onto guests..and, yes, things were slower this year during "high" season..

My gut tells me there will be a sales tax implemented within two years ... tops. The government is really in a pickle in regards to cash flow. The easiest and fastest way to build a revenue stream is to institute a sales tax on all consumer goods.

Of course, they already get their cut on shipping and duty ... but when you need real money, charge tax on the retail price of goods! It's a sad, sad situation.

Somebody has to pay for that cruise pier, hospital, airport, etc. You sure wouldn't want it to be the people who benefit (if such exist). So charge the tourists! And up the ante to cover the decline in financial services. Now there are also loans to pay off.

They want to charge the hotel tax on boats. The departure tax has already been raised. They plan to raise duty. They have talked of raising real estate taxes.

Meanwhile, they have proven woefully inept at collecting hospital fees, land rents and taxes. The bureaucracy is bloated and inefficient. There is no amount of cash flow sufficient to pay for that level of poor governance.