In an effort to put a cap on the growing tide of visitors to the ecologically sensitive destination, Galápagos Island, part of Ecuador, has set a fee hike.

According to a press statement by charity Galapagos Conservation Trust, the Galápagos National Park entry fee is set to hike the entrance fee for international visitors from USD 100 to USD 200 beginning August 1.

About 1,000 km off the coast of Ecuador lie the volcanic islands of the Galápagos, a UNESCO Heritage Site famous for a wealth of unique plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. The Galápagos Islands were the source of Darwin’s theory of evolution and remain a living laboratory for scientists today.

The organisation says that a reduced fee is payable for children aged 12 years and under, and for Ecuadorian visitors aged 65 and over or registered as disabled. There is no fee for infants under 2 years.

The Galapagos Islands is the most recent popular tourist destination to raise fees in an effort to reduce overtourism and protect natural resources. Popular locations such as Barcelona and Bali have also recently introduced such measures for similar reasons. With calls for a USD 50 Green Fee visitor payment, it is said that Hawaii could be the next island chain to adopt such a measure. Officials say that the funds would support the ecologically fragile area. 

“This change is something that has been discussed for many years, supported by GCT and many others, and we strongly believe that this is a positive decision by the Ecuadorian authorities, both for the unique wildlife of Galapagos and for the tourism industry that depends on it,” says the GCT press statement.

“Recent years have seen worrying growth in the number of visitors to the Islands, driven by a sharp increase in land-based tourism. This is pushing waste management systems to the limit, exacerbating water and food insecurity, and increasing the threat of devastating invasive species being introduced to the Islands,” it adds.

The Ministry of Tourism has declared that the extra funds raised by the increase in fees will be directly channelled into conservation initiatives, infrastructure upgrades and community programmes aimed at mitigating the ecological footprint of tourism on the Islands. 

While some concerns have been raised within the local community about the impact of the higher fees on tourist arrivals, which hit a record high in 2023, the fees are still modest when compared to those levied by other wildlife tourism destinations such as the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania or the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, says the statement.