If You Sleep Here, You Should Pay A Fee - Vanterpool On Yachties

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BVI Platinum News
Hon. Mark Vanterpool, Minister of Communications and Works

(PLTM) - Any visitor who lay their head down for a night, either in a hotel, villa or on a boat in the BVI, should pay a fee, according to Hon. Mark Vanterpool, Minister of Communications and Works.

"As long as you visit the territory, whether you stay on a boat, whether you stay in a tent on the beach, or whether you stay in a hotel of a fancy nature, villa; as long as you are a visitor to the territory, accommodation tax is payable," he said recently in the House of Assembly.

"This thing which we had for years, where as long as you are staying on a boat for seven nights, I believe you pay some cruising fee and that’s it. I think we have to make it very clear and implement it very rigidly, that as long as you stay in the territory for a night, accommodation tax is due wherever you stay, and we have to find someway to make sure that it is collected."

Government has increased Hotel Accommodation Tax from 7% to 10%.

"As long as you sleep in the territory of the Virgin Islands, we are asking you to help us to run the affairs of the territory, to build better roads for you and so on. But it is on us, our responsibility to make sure it is collected," Minister Vanterpool said.

Hon. Dr. Hubert O'Neal, Ninth District Representative also touched on the issue and strongly expressed that they go after those persons who sleep on yachts.

"What I see is happening here in the Virgin Islands is that we have a number of individuals who are residing on yachts in our marinas around the Virgin Islands. And I venture to say that although it appears that these individuals are staying and living on these yachts, to some extent they are also marketing those same accommodations and actually inviting visitors and tourists to utilize those rooms on the yachts," he said.

Dr. O'Neal added, "I venture to say they are actually renting those yachts. I know this is something going on, but it is going on under the radar. It is not being recognized as hotel rooms."

The Ninth District Representative believes that the government is losing out on revenues.

"And what I see happening here is that there are revenues that the government is not receiving because of what is going on within that industry. So I want to bring it to the attention, that we need to tap into the potential revenues that we are losing from those hotel rooms that are in the marine industry," said Dr. O'Neal.

Not Wise

However, Premier and Finance Minister, Hon. Dr. Orlando Smith cautioned his two government members about going after the yacthies.

"We have to be careful, as everybody has said about how we deal with the yachting industry. There are quite a number of fees that the yachting industry has to pay," he said.

The Premier added, "And in having discussions with the yachting industry, they said that maybe they need one fee instead of all these multiple fees; something we are looking at."

Premier Smith indicated that it is not easy to say that government is going to up and implement fees on the industry.

"I think it is something that we have to consider, but it is a discussion we have to have before we come to those conclusions," Premier Smith stated.

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