Galapagos to double tourist taxes over growing visitor pressure on wildlife reserve

The Galapagos' natural appeal is under threat from growing tourism numbers, Ecuador says. Photo / 123RF

Tourist taxes for the Galapagos Islands are to be doubled in response to a rapid rise in visitors to the fragile natural heritage site, the Ecuadorian Government says.

The 19 islands, famed for inspiring Darwin’s theory of evolution, have been forced to react to a worrying development in tourist arrivals. The ‘living museum’ is hiking visitor levies after a huge increase in ships bringing tourists and being required to remove their waste from the archipelago.

From August 1, 2024 the arrival tax will be raised from US$100 to US$200 ($330).

Ecuador’s Ministry of Tourism says Mercosur bloc countries - including Argentina, Peru, and Brazil - will also face an increase from US$50 to US$100 ($165) per person.

However, it was Ecuadorian nationals who faced the biggest hike, to visit the archipelago 1000km off the country’s west coast. From August, Ecuadorians face a 400 per cent increase from U$6 to US$30 ($50) per visitor. All children under-2 are exempt from the arrivals tax.

The changes were announced by Tourism Minister Niels Olsen via the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

Olsen said that as a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1978, it was a global treasure at threat of invasive species and increased tourism pressure.

“It is our collective responsibility to protect and preserve this unparalleled ecosystem for future generations,” he said.

There were record visitor volumes in 2023 of about 270,000 arrivals. With annual arrivals growing by 100,000 in the past decade there were concerns over waste management and pressures on infrastructure. The island’s waste collection, which has to be shipped to the mainland, had grown by 66 per cent in the past decade to 28.6 tonnes per day.

Although there was no cap on the visitor numbers, the tax was aimed at reducing arrivals and paying for conservation measures.

Olsen said the price increase was the first in 26 years and a “necessary measure to ensure that tourism in the Galapagos remains sustainable and mutually beneficial to both the environment and our local communities”.

The Galapagos Conservation Trust said that compared to other wildlife reserves the island’s increased taxes were modest.

East African game reserves the Masai Mara in Kenya and Tanzania’s Serengeti charge up to $285 by the day in high season.

Out of the four key natural tourism regions of Ecuador, Galapagos stands out as the main attraction with 97 per cent of the area conservation land, compared with about 14 per cent of mainland Ecuador.

According to a 2023 tourism competitiveness analysis report by the Universidad de Guayaquil the Ministry of Tourism was encouraged to capitalise on its standing as an ecotourism destination through the “creation of taxes for tourist activity”.

However, this image as a natural haven is under threat by the pressure of international cruise visitors and recent arrivals of invasive pathogens to the region.

In September the islands confirmed their first cases of avian influenza among its seabird population leading to temporary closures of visitor sites including Genovesa Island and Pitt Point on San Cristobal Island.