Aruba tourism plan proposes new $25 visitor fee on top of existing $20 charge

ORANJESTAD, Aruba--Visitors to Aruba could face several new and higher tourism charges beginning in 2027 under a draft government tourism plan, including a new US$25 fee for eligible stay-over visitors that would be charged in addition to Aruba’s existing US$20 Sustainability Fee.

The proposed US$25 charge is outlined in the August 2026 draft of the Aruba Strategic Tourism Implementation Plan 2026-2031, which sets out a broader restructuring of how tourism-generated revenue would be collected and used.

Importantly, the proposed $25 is not an increase of the existing $20 Sustainability Fee to $25. The draft describes the new charge as an additional Sustainable Tourism and Resilience Fee, also referred to elsewhere in the document as a US$25 Resilience Entry Fee.

Aruba currently charges a US$20 Sustainability Fee to visitors arriving by air. The new $25 proposal has a separate purpose. The draft calls for its proceeds to be transferred to a proposed National Tourism Resilience Fund, intended to build financial reserves that could be used during legally defined extraordinary emergencies.

Based on 1.55 million eligible visitors annually, the plan estimates that the new $25 charge could generate approximately US$38.8 million, or Afl. 69.4 million, per year. The money would be protected from routine government spending and initially used to build up the resilience fund.

If the existing $20 Sustainability Fee continues unchanged alongside the proposed new charge, affected visitors would therefore pay $45 through those two separate fees, rather than the current $20 becoming $25.

The $25 proposal is also separate from another planned increase involving the Tourism Product Fee, or TPF. The draft proposes increasing the TPF by US$10, with that additional revenue directed to a Natural Capital Fund for the protection and restoration of beaches, coral reefs, marine ecosystems, biodiversity, landscapes and climate resilience. The plan estimates the $10 TPF increase would raise approximately Afl. 27.7 million annually.

Other proposals include a one-percentage-point increase in room tax, a separate US$25 Marine Conservation Fee for recreational divers, a US$5 increase in the cruise passenger head tax, higher environmental charges and a levy on rental vehicles.

Taken together, the new and increased charges outlined in the draft could generate roughly Afl. 132 million to Afl. 137 million annually, although the amounts are planning estimates and the measures have not yet been adopted.

The document envisions the new tourism financing structure beginning in 2027. It remains a draft for discussion and circulation, meaning the proposed fees, their final amounts, exemptions and implementation arrangements would still require government decisions and, where necessary, legislation.

The wider Tourism 3.0 strategy seeks to shift Aruba’s tourism model away from focusing primarily on increasing visitor numbers and toward generating greater economic value from tourism while directing more of that revenue toward infrastructure, environmental protection, housing, workforce development and national financial resilience.

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