Japan agrees to impose departure tax for all travellers
Lawmakers in Japan have approved a planned departure tax of 1,000 yen per person which will take effect next year.
That means all travellers – foreign tourists and Japanese nationals alike – will be liable for the fee when leaving the country via air or sea.
The fee will be included in the cost of international outbound tickets and begins on January 7, 2019.
An All Nippon Airways spokesperson said the airline is ‘trying to gauge how big of an update’ is needed to amend their booking system to integrate the departure fee, which has been dubbed the ‘sayonara tax.’
All travellers aged two years old and above will pay.
Minoru Kihara, vice minister of finance, said the government is still assessing how revenues raised through the tax will be spent.
The tax was originally mooted as a way to pay for tourism marketing and related expenditures.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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