Effective Aug. 1, passengers departing the British Virgin Islands by ferry – as well as charter and private boats – will pay an increased departure fee, BVI government information officer April Glasgow said Tuesday.

Currently the fee is $5 for everyone. Come August, it will rise to $10 for BVI residents and $15 for nonresidents. Glasgow said proof of residence – in the form of a work permit, resident card, BVI passport, UK passport or Belonger’s cards – must be shown. In the absence of one of those documents the fee will be $15.

“The increase in the passenger tax will also allow the territory to capture lost revenue resulting from the demographic shift over the years of visitors that travel by sea from neighboring St. Thomas because of insufficient air lift through Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport,” Premier Orlando B. Smith said in a May 14 address to the House of Assembly forwarded by Glasgow.

He said that the increase should not impact the number of people traveling to the BVI.

“In effect, residents will realize a moderate increase on a tax rate that has being constant for almost 20 years,” Smith said.

Glasgow indicated an air departure tax increase is in the works but no date has been set to implement it.

According to Smith, the British territory’s current passenger tax rate is below that of its neighbors in the region. He said Anguilla charges visitors a departure tax equal to $20 in U.S. currency per adult and $10 per child, whether leaving by sea or air. Residents pay a smaller tax of $5.

In St. Kitts and Nevis, citizens currently incur a departure tax equal to $18.49 in U.S. currency and nonresidents $21.51. The government has also proposed an across the board new rate of $37.

Smith said a plan is in the works to allow people to purchase passes that will waive the departure tax. He did not indicate whether nonresidents would be included in the plan. These passes will be valid for predetermined periods of time.