Haiti’s Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe has announced his government will charge Royal Caribbean an extra $2 per passenger for each visit to the cruise line’s Labadee seaside resort.
Lamothe said the fee will go towards funding social and economic projects in the local area, located close to the country’s second largest city, Cap-Haitien.
Lamothe said he struck an agreement with Royal Caribbean’s CEO, Adam Goldstein to increase the port fee from $10 to $12.
The new fee will take effect from March 2015.
"We will invest the money in improving the village environment, and building schools and health centers for the Labadee village population," Lamothe said.
"We want to make sure the local population can directly benefit from the big cruise ships they see coming to their village."
Around 600,000 cruise passengers came ashore at Labadee last year.
A project was also announced to improve security and repair basic infrastructure in Labadee to smooth the way for shore excursions which will be offered to cruise passengers.
