Galápagos to double tourist taxes due to growing visitor pressure

The Ecuadorian government is doubling tourist taxes for the Galápagos Islands due to a rapid rise in visitors.

The ecologically famous archipelago has experienced a sharp increase in visitors, which the government says requires more maintenance. As a result, arrival tax will be raised from US$100 to US$200 as of 1 August 2024.

The changes were announced by Tourism Minister Niels Olsen via the Galápagos 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.

Magnificent Frigatebird is one of several iconic species found on the Galápagos Islands (Polina Kasapova).

Record visitor numbers

There were record visitor volumes in 2023, with some 270,000 arrivals. With annual visits 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% 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. The Galápagos Conservation Trust said that compared to other wildlife reserves the island's increases were modest.

Out of the four key natural tourism regions of Ecuador, Galápagos stands out as the main attraction with 97% of the area conservation land, compared with approximately 14% of mainland Ecuador. 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.