The Reykjavík harbour authority, Faxaflóahafnir, has announced plans to introduce a new harbour fee, payable by all passengers on boats that pass through its harbours. According to the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV the fee is specifically aimed at passengers on whale watching boats, but would also hit passengers on cruise ships which come to harbour in Reykjavík.
Read more: Explosive growth in whale watching, industry more than doubled in last decade
Faxaflóahafnir, which manages all harbours in Reykjavík as well as the towns of Akranes and Borgarnes in West Iceland, has the authority to charge all passengers on boats that use the harbours a fee. No such fee has been assessed to date, and the whale watching boats and other passenger vessels which use the harbour only pay berthing fees. The whale watching companies also rent land on the quay for their ticket sheds. The total fees paid by the whale watching firms are less than 100,000 USD annually, according to RÚV.
Gísli Gíslason, the CEO of Faxaflóahafnir told RÚV that these fees are nowhere nearly sufficient to cover the cost of maintenance, let alone pay for necessary upgrades and investments to service the whale watching boats. The harbour authority has estimated that the cost of necessary investments to service the growing tourism industry is at least 100 million ISK (815,000 USD/717,000 EUR).
The fee will be introduced on January 1 2018. However, the amount has yet to be determined.
The Reykjavík harbour authority, Faxaflóahafnir, has announced plans to introduce a new harbour fee, payable by all passengers on boats that pass through its harbours. According to the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV the fee is specifically aimed at passengers on whale watching boats, but would also hit passengers on cruise ships which come to harbour in Reykjavík.
Read more: Explosive growth in whale watching, industry more than doubled in last decade
Faxaflóahafnir, which manages all harbours in Reykjavík as well as the towns of Akranes and Borgarnes in West Iceland, has the authority to charge all passengers on boats that use the harbours a fee. No such fee has been assessed to date, and the whale watching boats and other passenger vessels which use the harbour only pay berthing fees. The whale watching companies also rent land on the quay for their ticket sheds. The total fees paid by the whale watching firms are less than 100,000 USD annually, according to RÚV.
Gísli Gíslason, the CEO of Faxaflóahafnir told RÚV that these fees are nowhere nearly sufficient to cover the cost of maintenance, let alone pay for necessary upgrades and investments to service the whale watching boats. The harbour authority has estimated that the cost of necessary investments to service the growing tourism industry is at least 100 million ISK (815,000 USD/717,000 EUR).
The fee will be introduced on January 1 2018. However, the amount has yet to be determined.
