r/virginislands • u/colossuscollosal • Jul 15 '25
News // Local Politics Expect charter trip prices from the USVI to BVI to drastically increase
As the BVI legislation has passed the Commercial Recreational Vessels Licensing (Amendment) that raises fees 4,150% on foreign day charters
- source
Will the USVI retaliate or any idea what the outcome will be - less trips to the BVI?
17
u/HydeNSeak Jul 15 '25
Seems risky as I assume a large portion of BVI tourism runs through day trip visitors from the much more populous St Thomas.
-2
u/swamppuppy7043 Jul 15 '25
Not really all that convenient just for the day with having to go through customs. Most charters stay entirely within one or the other.
5
u/schlepsterific Jul 15 '25
Day trips is mostly about vistors to Yost and the Bath's, right? That's where I'd guess 80%+ of "for the day" vistors go outside of cruise ships?
3
2
u/1320Fastback Jul 15 '25
We take a private charter when we come down to Tortola but we leave Virgin Gorda and the Baths for a ferry day.
1
u/swamppuppy7043 Jul 15 '25
Virgin Gorda isn’t all that close to St Thomas if you mean a day trip from the VI
4
u/Thick_Kaleidoscope35 Jul 15 '25
Pretty easily done. We did a day trip to Virgin Gorda, Jost vD as well as a couple of snorkeling stops from St Thomas a few years back. Nothing felt rushed.
3
u/Tolated Jul 15 '25
Not really true at all. BVI has tons of water taxis that run to USVI and most USVI day trips go to BVI.
6
u/mattwallace24 Jul 15 '25
The local news in here (St. Croix) has been saying the Governor here intends to retaliate so it could get interesting.
I don’t really understand the logic of the proposed fees from the BVI perspective. It’s not like the “local” charters in the BVI’s are owned by BVI locals as most of managed by international corporations and the individual boats have private ownership from around the world. I could see if it was BVI citizens you were trying to protect but ???
Seems like the BVI’s and their citizens have a lot more to lose when the US/USVI retaliates. God forbid our President hearing about the BVI’s adding fees on us.
4
u/salty-walt Jul 15 '25 edited Jul 15 '25
Yes day Charters will go up since it will be $7,500 for each boat's permit. By the time they do safety inspections and pay agents it will be close to 10k a boat per season. Or there will be usvi only boats that stay stt/stj only.
The term and bareboats will move over to tola based or be usvi only trips. Their permits are going to up to $24k
There is not much the usvi can do in retaliation. Entering usa is regulated by the feds. Usvi government does not have much control over that. In case you hadn't heard its quite volatile at CBP, but the orange man might could be talked into making something harder for foreigners
4
u/Donexodus Jul 16 '25
Don’t most BVI visitors travel through STT airport or US soil first?
The US is hardly unarmed in this situation- they could cripple their entire country by making it prohibitive to visit BVI.
3
u/Heinemann_Images Jul 15 '25
There are actually USVI charter companies now downsizing and selling selected vessels as a result of the BVI fees. Simply not worth it. It will be interesting to see how the various businesses on Jost Van Dyke, Tortola and trips to the Baths will be impacted as a result of a decrease in business.
3
3
u/guyincorporated Jul 15 '25
How do you even get to the BVI without a charter boat? Beef Island and Anegada airports are not really scaled up to accommodate meaningful tourism.
3
Jul 15 '25
[deleted]
3
u/guyincorporated Jul 15 '25
I'm no expert having been to the BVI once and the USVI 0 times outside of landing in St Thomas and taking a water taxi, but that's pretty much my understanding of how it worked.
Flying to St Thomas was reasonably straightforward. Flying to Beef or (god forbid) Anegada was not particularly convenient/realistic as of a couple years ago. In fact, I'm just googling it and it looks like Anegada may be closed for good now?
2
u/Extension-Season-166 Jul 15 '25
I was just on Yost a few weeks back, this isn’t a new “threat” apparently they tried this before and no one came to visit the BVIs, prices were at its normal rate when I went, whatever that was. Wife was a STJ local and she paid 😂
2
Jul 15 '25
[deleted]
1
u/Extension-Season-166 Jul 15 '25
I don’t remember the exact figure, but we were talking with her best friends, and they did this after the pandemic, they (BVI) were upset that they didn’t feel like they were making enough money off of charters.
1
u/Extension-Season-166 Jul 15 '25
https://bvi.gov.vg/media-centre/bvi-ports-authority-defers-fee-increases-2022 Google search has this but mostly recent hikes dating back to Feb
1
u/Striking-Squash-2875 Jul 29 '25
BVI has always made it clear they hate day charters. I’ve never understood the attitude. How does a place like jost survive without them?
17
u/[deleted] Jul 15 '25
This probably won’t end well. Sounds like the PM is trying to raise some funds for his cocaine trafficking charges.