STATE HOUSE – Newport would get a considerable financial boost from visiting cruise ships under legislation sponsored by Rep. Lauren H. Carson and passed by the House of Representatives today.
The legislation (2024-H 8027A), which is backed by the City Council, authorizes the city to raise the landing and boarding fees it collects from cruise ships that stop by the city. Currently, the city collects $3 for each passenger when a ship lands, and again when it embarks from the city. The legislation enables the city to raise that fee to $10, for a total of $20 for each passenger when cruise ships visit. The fee has not been raised since 2014.
“Cruise ship stopovers in Newport are a unique part of our tourism industry. While they each can bring well over 1,000 visitors into the city at once, those passengers already have a place to stay and a place to eat on board the ship, so landing and embarking fees represent most of the revenue the city can make. Newport needs to invest considerably in our infrastructure to keep our city a safe, resilient and attractive place for our residents and visitors alike, so bringing this fee up to the level that other coastal cities charge is a sensible way to help raise revenue without burden to taxpayers,” said Representative Carson (D-Dist. 75, Newport).
During the hearing for the bill, Newport Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong testified that the city plans to raise the fee gradually over the course of several years, beginning in 18 months, and that $10 would be competitive with other ports in the region.
He said the funds would be used to cover the debt service on planned infrastructure upgrades at Perrotti Park, which is where passengers from large cruise ships arrive in Newport. The city plans to ask voters in November to approve $98.5 million for infrastructure projects around the city, including $5 million to replace the Harbormaster building at Perrotti Park and add public restrooms that would be used by cruise passengers, and $12 million to replace the sea wall there.
According to Discover Newport, 62 large cruise vessels are scheduled to anchor and let passengers disembark at Perrotti Park in 2024. The schedule for the smaller vessels that dock at Fort Adams State Park has not yet been released. By Discover Newport’s count, 117,071 cruise passengers stopped in Newport last year.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Dawn Euer (D-Dist. 13, Newport, Jamestown) has introduced companion legislation (2024-S 3021).