Barbados Tour & Excursion Pricing Calculator

A catamaran cruise at BBD 250 a head sounds like good money. Then VAT and the levy come off the top, Viator takes a quarter, the cruise line keeps 40%, and fuel, crew, lunch and the open bar come out of what is left. The boat, the insurance and the dock fees have to be paid whether it sails or not.

This free calculator works through all of it across a full season. It shows:

• how many guests you need on each trip to break even
• what you actually keep per guest from direct, OTA, hotel desk and cruise line bookings
• the price you need for your target margin
• which months lose money, and whether cutting trips would help or hurt
• profit and cash after loan payments and tax

It works for boat cruises, island tours, snorkel and water sports operators, and walking or food tours. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.

VAT and the Product Development Levy on tours

Direct tourism services in Barbados are charged VAT at 7.5%, not the 17.5% standard rate. On top of that, the 2.5% Product Development Levy applies to direct tourism services, including sport and recreation, entertainment, and cruises other than international cruises.

If your advertised price includes both, 10% of the price belongs to the BRA. A BBD 250 ticket is BBD 227.27 before tax. The calculator starts every channel from that pre-tax figure.

Confirm your VAT rate and whether the levy applies to your business with the BRA. Operators below the VAT registration threshold charge no VAT. That threshold rises from BBD 200,000 to BBD 350,000 a year from 1 October 2026.

What each booking channel really leaves you

Using the calculator’s default catamaran at BBD 250, taxes included:

Channel	Takes	You keep per guest
Direct (website, WhatsApp, walk-up)	3% card fees	BBD 220.45
Hotel desks and agents	15%	BBD 193.18
Viator or GetYourGuide	25%	BBD 170.45
Cruise line shore excursions	40% net rate	BBD 136.36

Viator and GetYourGuide typically charge 20 to 30%. Cruise lines usually pay you a contracted net rate and resell the excursion at their own price. Their cut can reach 50% of what the passenger pays. Enter your own rates in the channel table.

Why cutting low-season trips can make things worse

A month that shows a loss is not always a month to cut. The calculator checks two things for each month:

• Do the trips cover their own running costs? That means fuel, crew, and food and drinks for the guests on board. If not, fewer trips that month reduces the loss.
• Do they only lose money after fixed costs? If so, each trip still pays something toward the boat, insurance, dock and marketing, which you pay anyway. Cutting those trips makes the year worse.

In the default example, cutting May to November from 14 to 10 trips a month turns a BBD 23,415 loss into a BBD 34,608 loss.

Worked example: a 30-seat catamaran lunch cruise

These are the figures the calculator loads by default:

• Price: BBD 250 a guest, VAT and levy included
• Trips: 22 a month from December to April, 14 the rest of the year
• Seats filled: 64.5% across the year, from 85% in February to 35% in September
• Booking mix: 30% direct, 30% OTA, 15% hotel desks, 25% cruise lines
• Running cost per trip: BBD 1,453.50 (120 litres of diesel, 5 crew for 6 hours, other costs)
• Food, drinks and gear: BBD 55 a guest
• Fixed costs: BBD 13,500 a month plus BBD 6,000 a year, BBD 2,000 a month loan interest, and depreciation on a BBD 600,000 boat

The result:

• Break-even: 20.2 guests per trip. The boat averages 19.3.
• Profit: a BBD 23,415 loss for the year
• Break-even price: BBD 258.07
• Price for a 20% margin: BBD 322.59

Three changes and what each does to profit after tax:

• move 10% of guests from cruise lines to direct bookings: a BBD 9,842 profit
• raise the price to BBD 275: a BBD 46,434 profit
• cut low-season trips from 14 to 10: a BBD 34,608 loss

The defaults are illustrative, not market data. Replace them with your own figures.

Profit versus cash

Depreciation spreads the cost of the boat or vehicle over its useful life. It reduces profit but does not take cash out of the bank. Loan principal does the opposite: it takes cash but is not a cost.

The calculator shows both lines, so you can see whether a profitable year still leaves you short of cash.

Tax on profit

• Company: corporation tax at 9%, or 5.5% for eligible small companies with gross income up to BBD 2 million
• Sole trader: personal income tax after the BBD 25,000 allowance, at 12.5% on the first BBD 50,000 of taxable income and 28.5% above that

Self-employed NIS contributions are not included.

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FAQ

Sources (last checked 29 September 2026)

• Barbados Revenue Authority: VAT rates: 7.5% on direct tourism services, 17.5% standard
• KPMG: Indirect tax guide, Barbados: VAT on direct tourism services at 7.5%
• BRA Policy Note PPG 007/2018 (revised February 2019): Product Development Levy: 2.5% on direct tourism services, from 1 July 2018
• Barbados Digital: Current gas and diesel prices: diesel BBD 3.80, gasoline BBD 4.27 per litre (S.I. 2026 No. 85)
• Samba: OTA commission rates 2026: Viator 20 to 30%, GetYourGuide 20 to 30%
• Fresh and Felicia: cruise line shore excursion markups: cruise line cut of up to 50%
• KPMG: Barbados tax measures in 2026 budget: VAT threshold to BBD 350,000 from 1 October 2026
• Barbados Digital: Corporation tax: 9% standard, 5.5% for eligible small companies
• KPMG: Taxation of international executives, Barbados: personal allowance and income tax bands