Higher fees for foreigners visiting US national parks stokes tourism concerns

BILLINGS, Mont. — A $100 per person fee for foreigners entering Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and other popular national parks is fueling apprehension among some tourism-oriented businesses because it could discourage travelers, but supporters say the change will generate money for cash-strapped parks.

The new fees were announced Tuesday by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and will take effect January 1. Foreign tourists will also see a big increase in the price of an annual park pass, to $250 per vehicle. US residents will continue to pay $80 for an annual pass.

This policy change puts the United States on par with other countries that charge foreigners more to visit popular attractions.

At the Whistling Swan Motel, just outside Glacier National Park in northwest Montana, owner Mark Howser estimates that about 15 percent of his guests are foreigners. They come from Canada, China, India, Spain, France, Germany and elsewhere, said Howser, who also runs a bakery and general store.

These visitors already pay up to $35 per vehicle to enter the park. Adding a $100 per person fee for foreigners, Howser said, “is a surefire way to discourage people from visiting Glacier.”

“This will hurt local businesses that cater to foreign travelers, like me,” he said. “You discourage them from seeing anything in the country by attaching a fee to that experience.”

One Yellowstone tour operator, Bryan Batchelder of Let’s Go Adventure Tours and Transportation, said the fees represent “a pretty big hike” for the roughly 30 percent of his clientele who are foreigners. This percentage has increased in recent years after Batchelder moved to a new reservation service.

Next summer, he says, will reveal how this new tax will impact foreign visitors. “They will probably continue to come to the country, but will they visit the national parks? asked Batchelder.

Fees will also apply to Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia. & Kings Canyon, Yosemite and Zion national parks.

Interior officials described the new pricing structure as “American-first pricing” that will ensure international visitors help maintain the parks.

For Yellowstone Park alone, the $100 fee could generate $55 million a year to help repair deteriorating trails and aging bridges, said Brian Yablonski of the Property and Environment Research Center, a free market research group based in Bozeman, Montana.

If taxes on foreigners were expanded to park sites nationwide, Yablonski said it could generate more than $1 billion from about 14 million international visitors a year.

“Americans already pay more than international visitors because they pay taxes,” Yablonski said. “For international visitors, this is a simple, common-sense approach.”

Many other countries charge extra fees for international visitors to visit public sites, said Melissa Weddell, director of the University of Montana Tourism and Recreation Research Institute. Foreign visitors to Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, for example, pay $200 per adult, while Ecuadorian nationals pay only $30, according to tourist sites on the islands.

A coalition of current and former park service employees denounced the new accusation.

“In a year where national park staff have already been reduced by nearly 25%, we are concerned that this will place an additional burden on already overworked employees,” said Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.

“National parks should be available and accessible to everyone, otherwise America’s best idea will become America’s greatest disruption,” she said.

Gerry Seavo James, deputy director of the Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All campaign, said Trump and his administration worked for nearly a year to undermine the Park Service, cutting its budget and laying off thousands of employees.

“Ripping off foreign tourists at the gate will not provide the financial support these gems of our public lands need,” he said. “Without this support, we run the risk that our true common ground will become nothing more than playgrounds for the super-rich.”

Interior Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Peace said the agency did not previously collect data on international visitors, but would begin doing so in January.

Republican lawmakers introduced a bill in Congress in July that would codify the surcharge on foreign visitors to national parks. It is sponsored by West Virginia Rep. Riley Moore and Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, who served as Interior secretary during Trump’s first term.

“President Trump and Secretary Burgum are putting Americans first by asking foreign visitors to pay their fair share while keeping entry fees stable for the American people,” Zinke and Moore said in a statement Wednesday.

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Daly reported from Washington, D.C.