Every Environmental Fee and Permit in the Philippines, in One Table

A compiled reference for independent travellers. All amounts last checked 30 July 2026 from operator counters, local ordinances and government pages; local government units revise these by ordinance, so confirm at the counter. Amounts marked as observed are ones we paid ourselves.

How we compiled this

We collected receipts across El Nido, Coron, Boracay, Siargao, Bohol, Cebu and Palawan between November 2025 and July 2026, and cross-checked each amount against the collecting authority where one publishes rates. Fees set by municipal ordinance are not published centrally anywhere - that is the reason this table did not previously exist in one place, and the reason it needs re-checking every few months.

The compiled fee table

Fees observed or confirmed, last checked 30 July 2026. Amounts in Philippine pesos, per person, cash unless noted.

Fee	Where	Amount	When paid	Notes
Travel tax (economy)	International departure	1,620	At booking or airport	Usually inside the ticket price; first class higher
International terminal fee	NAIA	950	In ticket price	Raised from 550 in September 2025
Domestic terminal fee	NAIA	350	In ticket price	Other airports charge less
Environmental fee	Boracay	300	On first arrival	One-time, covers the whole stay
Terminal fee	Caticlan jetty (Boracay)	150	Each crossing	Paid both directions
Environmental fee	El Nido	200	Before your first tour	Valid 10 days; keep the slip
Environmental fee	Coron	207	On arrival or at tour desk	One-time
Port terminal fee	Most passenger ports	25-100	Before boarding	Separate from the ticket
Protected area fee	National parks, marine reserves	50-500	At the gate	Underground River and similar have their own permit systems
Local guide fee	Waterfalls, caves, summits	200-800 per group	At the trailhead	Compulsory in many municipalities

The receipt is the point

The single most useful habit in the Philippines is keeping the paper. Environmental fee slips are checked repeatedly - the El Nido slip is valid for a fixed window and every boat operator asks for it before the first tour of the day. Lose it and you pay again. We keep all fee slips in one zip pocket for the whole trip and it has saved a re-payment on three separate occasions.

Cash, and small notes specifically

Almost every fee on that table is collected at a desk with a cash box. Card terminals exist at airport counters and nowhere else. Worse, collectors frequently cannot break a PHP 1,000 note at 6am. Arrive at any island with PHP 100 and PHP 200 notes deliberately set aside. The ATM at a jetty port is either out of cash or charging its own withdrawal fee on top.

What most guides get wrong about Philippine fees

Two mistakes dominate.

Treating the tour price as all-in. Island hopping tours are quoted at a headline price that almost never includes the environmental fee, and often not the port fee either. A PHP 1,400 tour realistically costs PHP 1,700 by the time you are on the boat. Guides that publish tour prices without the fee stack are describing a price nobody actually pays.

Publishing one figure and never re-checking it. These are municipal ordinances. They change on local council timelines with no national announcement. We have seen the same environmental fee figure copied across dozens of travel sites for years after the municipality changed it. Any fee list without a checked date - including this one, in twelve months - should be treated as a rough order of magnitude, not a budget line.

A third, smaller one: the travel tax is widely described as something tourists pay on departure. In practice it is normally collected inside the airline ticket price for international departures, and many short-stay foreign visitors are exempt or have it absorbed. It is worth checking whether you are being charged twice rather than assuming a counter payment is due.

Where the money goes, and why it is worth paying

It is easy to read a fee list as a shakedown. It mostly is not. Boracay's environmental fee exists because the island was closed for six months in 2018 for a sewerage rebuild, and the fee funds the ongoing waste and drainage work that keeps it open. El Nido's eco-tourism fee funds mooring buoys and ranger patrols in Bacuit Bay - the reason the lagoons still have coral to look at. Protected area fees at marine reserves pay the wardens who stop dynamite fishing.

The ones worth questioning are the informal collections: a barangay desk with no receipt book, a "guide fee" for a trail that needs no guide, a second environmental fee for a bay you already paid for that morning. Ask for a receipt. A legitimate collector always has one; the ones who do not usually stop asking when you do.

The three charges travellers dispute most

Double environmental fees in Palawan. El Nido and Coron are separate municipalities with separate fees. Paying in one does not cover the other, even on the same trip, and the ferry between them does not bundle either. This is not a scam, it is two local governments.

Terminal fees on top of a ferry ticket. Almost every passenger port charges a terminal fee that is collected separately at a booth before you board, not included in the ticket you bought online. Budget PHP 25 to PHP 100 per crossing and have it in coins and small notes.

Tour operator fee collection. Many island-hopping operators collect the environmental fee on your behalf and hand you the slip. That is normal and legitimate. What is not normal is collecting it without producing the government slip - if there is no slip, you have paid the operator, not the municipality, and the next boat will charge you again.

Fees that are easy to forget entirely

• Diving marine park fees - often collected per day, not per trip, and not always mentioned when you book a course.
• Drone permits - filming permits exist in several municipalities and enforcement has increased around protected lagoons.
• Sunday and holiday surcharges at some port terminals.
• Barangay fees at smaller beaches and waterfalls, typically PHP 20 to PHP 50, always cash.

None of these is large. Together, across a two-week trip with several island moves, they are the difference between your budget holding and quietly slipping by ten percent.

Sources

• TIEZA - travel tax rates, exemptions and refunds.
• Department of Tourism - destination advisories and accredited operators.
• DENR - protected area management and user fees.
• CAAP - airport charges and aviation notices.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I budget for fees on a two-week trip?

PHP 2,500 to PHP 4,000 per person including the travel tax, assuming three or four island moves and a couple of island-hopping days.

Is the Boracay environmental fee charged every time I arrive?

No. The PHP 300 environmental fee is one-time for your stay. The PHP 150 Caticlan terminal fee is charged in both directions.

Can I pay environmental fees by card?

Almost never. Bring cash in PHP 100 and PHP 200 notes. Card terminals exist at airports, not at jetty desks.

How long is the El Nido environmental fee valid?

Ten days from issue. Keep the slip - every boat operator asks for it before the first tour of the day.

Do children pay environmental fees?

Usually yes above a set age, commonly seven or twelve depending on the municipality. Infants are normally exempt.

Is the PHP 1,620 travel tax charged to foreign tourists?

Short-stay foreign visitors are generally exempt or have it absorbed in the fare. Check your ticket breakdown before paying again at a counter.