Labuan Bajo harbour fee: why it is not on the park tariff list

By Komodo National Park Fee Editorial Desk

Sourced figures: fees in the table carry their source and check month. They are official or third-party figures, not our offers, and they change. This guide is not the park authority.

The Labuan Bajo harbour fee is a charge reported by tour operators, not a line on the park authority's tariff poster. Operators describe it as per person, charged daily on day trips and once per trip on multi-day boats. Reported figures therefore remain operator-reported until a port tariff document is shown.

What is the Labuan Bajo harbour fee?

It is a charge for entering the port at Labuan Bajo, on the account of operators Ocean Earth Travels and Komodo Island Tour. Ocean Earth Travels gives one figure with two ways of applying it. Both rows are in the price table on this page, marked as operator-reported, with the foreign entrance line beside them for comparison.

The fee is separate from the park's own ticket, at least as these sellers present it. That ticket is explained in our Komodo National Park fee overview. It helps to know what kind of claim you are looking at: a seller's description of a cost, which you can ask about, and not a line you can look up on the state park tariff. A traveller comparing quotes needs that distinction more than the number itself.

Who reports the harbour fee?

Every source named below is an operator or a hotel desk. No tariff document is cited here for any of them, and they agree more closely on the amount than on how it fits into a total.

Several sellers agreeing shows the line is in use. It is not proof of a legal tariff, since sellers can repeat one another's figures.

Why is it missing from the park tariff?

The plainest explanation is scope. The park authority's tariff poster has no harbour fee line, and that poster covers state park revenue only, so a port charge would not belong on it. The gap by itself says little. It is not evidence that the fee is false, and this guide does not call it false. What is missing is a port authority document setting it, which is what would confirm its legal basis and current amount.

A piece of local history is a useful caution. Until 2023 the West Manggarai regency charged for diving and snorkelling through the Labuan Bajo port authority office, according to Detik, and those charges stopped on 24 May 2023. That was a regional charge on activities and not a harbour fee, and nothing here suggests the two are connected. The point is narrower: a payment made at a port office in Labuan Bajo has not always meant a port tariff, and a charge once collected there has been withdrawn before. Ask who collects a fee now, not who collected something similar in the past.

The same caution applies to another line missing from the poster, covered on the conservation fee page.

Is the harbour fee charged per day or per trip?

By the operators' account, it depends on the type of trip. Ocean Earth Travels says per person per day on day trips and once per trip on liveaboards, and Komodo Island Tour reports the same split. Treat it as how those sellers apply it.

This matters most when comparing a run of day trips with a liveaboard, or when a quote totals fees per day. Divebooker totals a foreign diver's daily cost from entrance, diver surcharge and harbour fee, and that total is in the price table. Komodo Island Tour gives a lower diving total in one passage, without the harbour fee, and the higher total elsewhere on the same page. On a multi-day trip, a daily total that includes the harbour fee could overstate it if the fee is charged only once. Check how any total was built before you multiply it by days.

Is a per-person harbour line really a passenger ticket?

Neptune Liveaboards gives a different account from the day-trip sellers. It says the harbour authority levies a per-trip charge on the vessel, based on gross tonnage, and that a per-person harbour fee from some day-trip sellers is how they pass on their own vessel charges, not a government ticket issued to you. Ocean Earth Travels and Komodo Island Tour list it as a per-person item, and no port authority document is cited here to decide between them. The practical test is the same either way: ask whether you will receive a receipt in your own name from the port, or whether the line recovers a boat cost.

Is the harbour fee included in a tour price?

A quote has to tell you which. Divebooker warns that operators may fold some fees into the tour price and advises asking for a full breakdown. Our page on what a tour includes covers both arrangements, the fee inside the trip price or shown as its own line. Neither arrangement is improper in itself. The risk is paying twice, once in a package and again at the pier, or comparing two quotes that treat fees differently and picking the wrong one as lower.

The entrance ticket raises the same question. Indonesia's tourism ministry site leaves boats, accommodation and tour operator services outside the tariff, so even a fully itemised park ticket leaves other lines to be explained.

How should you ask about the harbour fee?

A polite, specific question gets better answers than a challenge. Try these four, in writing, before you pay a deposit:

1. Is a harbour or port fee included in this price, or will it be charged separately?
2. How much is it per person, and is it charged per day or once for this trip?
3. Who collects it, and on what document is it based?
4. Will I get a receipt or ticket from the collector?

If you want to settle the third question yourself, the port authority in Labuan Bajo is the body to ask, since a park source cannot speak for a port charge. The guide to checking a fee shows how to test any line on a quote.

A quote that names this charge has done nothing wrong. A vague "port and other fees" line with no collector is the kind worth pressing on, since it can hold anything.

What else do travellers ask about harbour fees?

Is the Labuan Bajo harbour fee paid once or every day?

Operators Ocean Earth Travels and Komodo Island Tour say it is per person per day on day trips and once per trip on liveaboards. That is their account, and no port document is cited here.

Is the harbour fee official in Komodo?

Operators report it, the park authority's poster does not list it, and no port authority tariff is cited. That does not make it false, so ask who collects it.

How much is the Komodo National Park harbor fee?

It is not a park fee, and the park poster has no such line. The operator-reported figure is in the price table on this page, labelled as coming from Ocean Earth Travels.

Does a Komodo tour include the harbour fee?

Divebooker says operators may bundle some fees, and advises asking for a full breakdown. Check the written quote rather than assuming.

Are harbour fees included in the Komodo National Park entrance fee?

No. The entrance ticket is a state park charge, and the poster shows no harbour line within it. Operators describe the harbour fee as a separate charge at the port.

Which sources support this page?

• Ocean Earth Travels: Komodo National Park fees (operator)
• Komodo Island Tour: Komodo National Park fees (operator)
• Divebooker: Komodo National Park entrance fee 2026 (operator)
• Casa de Capulet: how to book Komodo National Park (hotel and tour desk)
• Balai Taman Nasional Komodo: ticket prices and tariff poster
• Detik: West Manggarai loses revenue from Komodo National Park
• Indonesia Travel (tourism ministry): Labuan Bajo and Komodo National Park
• Neptune Liveaboards: operator guide to park fees and paperwork

How do I reach the desk?

If a port document or a current notice on this charge reaches you, the desk would like to see it. Requests through the desk can lead to a paid booking, so we have a commercial interest here too. Hold any written offer that follows to the same four questions.

• WhatsApp: +62 811-3823-875
• Email: email the desk