US to Gouge Foreign Tourists

Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, announced a new $100 per person fee on foreigners entering several popular national parks. It takes effects Jan. 1. Foreign tourists also will see a sharp price increase for an annual parks pass, to $250 per vehicle, while U.S. residents will continue to be charged $80 for the same. Some businesses that depend on tourism fear this could affect their bottom line should foreign tourists cut back on travel to the States. Personally, I quit going to most national parks because they’ve become nothing but overcrowded, hard-to-find parking, no-longer peaceful places to be.

Visitors already pay up to $35 per vehicle to enter many of the more desired parks. A local businessman near Glacier National Park stated the additional fee “is a sure-fire way of discouraging people from visiting Glacier.” Actually, from my point of view, the lesser the number of tourists, the more likely I am to start revisiting such parks.

For Yellowstone park alone, the $100 charge would supposedly generate $55 million annually to help fix deteriorating trails and aging bridges, according to Brian Yablonski with a free-market research group based in Bozeman, Montana. A nationwide national park fee would supposedly bring in $1 billion from the average 14 million yearly international visitors. He also claims visitor numbers would drop only about 1% in response to the higher price. He’s probably correct. After all, as an American, if you were planning a $4,000 trip to Italy, would $4,100 or $4,200 stop you? Probably not.

In addition to Yellowstone and Glacier, the new fee will also apply to Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Yosemite and Zion national parks. Note that Acadia is the only one east of the Mississippi River. Interior officials described the new fee structure as “America-first pricing” that will ensure international visitors contribute to maintaining parks.

I’m sorry, but how stupid is that comment? International visitors already contribute to maintaining parks. They spend to get in, and they spend within the park. One official claims that Americans pay more than international visitors because [Americans] are paying taxes. Maybe he’s forgetting that tourists stay at hotels which pay taxes to local, state, and federal governments.

Many other countries charge international visitors an extra fee to visit public sites. According to tourist websites, foreign visitors to Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands pay $200 per adult, while Ecuadorian nationals pay only $30. I can’t help but to think, “If your friend jumped off El Capitan…..”

A coalition of current and former park service employees denounced the new charge, as do I. National Parks should be available to everyone who is physically, and financially, capable of enjoying them, be they domestic citizens or foreigners. Maintenance for the parks should be shared by all visitors equally by paying the same entry fee and the same in-park services. As a person who despises taxes, I’m not so sure the national parks shouldn’t be like all other businesses should be – pay to play. If one never visits, one shouldn’t be taxed for them? That’s how free markets are suppose to work.

Source used: Associated Press