Marriage on the Go Costs More in Jamaica

MIAMI — Nuptials in Negril? Getting hitched in Ocho Rios? Marriage-minded travelers beware. The marriage license fee for Jamaica’s quickie weddings has just gone up tenfold, to about $54.

It’s not that cash-strapped Jamaica has anything against matrimony--or the tourists who drive its economy, officials insist.

“It’s certainly not targeted at tourists or people who want to get married,” said Sharon Weaver, an advisor to Jamaica’s finance minister. “The increases are part of the government’s attempt to meet the budget.” Also boosted in Jamaica in recent months have been driver license fees, cigarette taxes and gasoline taxes--a move that triggered rioting in April, which prompted tour cancellations.

Since 1994, more than 50,000 couples have combined holidays and holy wedlock on this Caribbean isle in ceremonies that require just 24 hours’ notice.