Saint Lucia is to charge guests a nightly accommodation fee from April 1 to pay for destination marketing and development.
The government said it had decided to introduce the charge following consultations with industry stakeholders.
The money will be collected by hotels, guest houses, villa and apartment owners and passed on to the government via the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority, which currently has an annual marketing budget of $35 million.
It will be used to promote Saint Lucia in its key destinations, including the UK, the US, Canada and the rest of the Caribbean and Europe.
The fee will also be used to support village tourism development and destination management, as well as the development of local prodcut in Saint Lucia.
Guests paying a nightly rate of below US$120 a night will pay a fee of $3 per person per night while those paying a rate of $120 a night or above will be charged a higher fee of $6.
Airbnb guests and others who book through similar sharing platforms will be subject to a fee of 7% of the total cost of their stay.
The government said its intention is to strengthen the SLTA’s ability to increase its marketing of the destination and to support tourism development in Saint Lucia with the collection of a fee that correlates to visitor arrivals.
Saint Lucia attracts up to 350,000 stay-over visitors every year, which it aims to increase to 541,000 by 2022. It also wants to increase flight capacity and load factors to 85%.
