April 16, 2001 – Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen is hoping to derail proposals in the Bush administration’s budget that could make it even more expensive for tourists to visit the territory.
Christensen said the administration’s plan would increase airport fees to pay for immigration inspectors from $6 to $7 each time a traveler enters the United States. It would impose a first-time $3 fee on cruise ship travelers.
Christensen said that since the territory faces a loss of at least $28 million a year due to President Bush’s tax cut proposal, any threat to the Virgin Islands’ tourism industry has to be addressed promptly. In an effort to do so, Christensen said she wrote to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young.
As the longtime chairman of the House Resources Committee, Young has visited the Virgin Islands and is familiar with issues affecting the territories.
"I strongly urge you to oppose the application of these fee increases to persons traveling to and from the U.S. territories because of the impact they would have on our already beleaguered economies," Christensen wrote.
While it is uncertain whether the "immigration inspector fee" proposal will apply to the Virgin Islands, Christensen said she remains concerned because the territory is still suffering from the effects of increases in passenger excise taxes that were raised as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
Those increases, she asserts, still have a "chilling effect" on the territory's tourism economy.
"Likewise, the proposed first-time $3 cruise-ship passengers fee will also negatively impact the Virgin Islands," Christensen wrote. "The imposition of a per-passenger fee on cruise ship travelers will only serve to increase the cost of cruising and slow down growth in an industry which is critically important to the economy of the Virgin Islands."
