Tourists Traveling to Japan to Pay 1,000 Yen Departure Tax Starting Monday

Roughly around P500.
by Desiree Pore | January 04, 2019

Planning to go to Japan this year? Here’s a pro tip for you: the Japanese government will now collect a 1,000 Yen departure fee for every traveller leaving the country, with children under the age of 2 and transit passengers being exempted.

The law, which was enacted April of last year, will see the collection start on Monday, January 7, which means tickets purchased and issued before January 7 will be exempted from the tax.

Revenue that will be collected from the levy is estimated to amount to 6 billion Yen in fiscal 2018 through March 2019 and is expected to hit 50 billion Yen in fiscal 2019.

The revenue is expected to be used and allocated to improve infrastructure, fund global tourism campaigns, and promote the rural destinations in the country. Also included in the plan is the expansion of wireless Internet services and to set up facial recognition gates at airports for faster immigration procedures.

A record 28.69 million tourists visited Japan in 2017, which then saw an increase in 2018, with tourists recorded at 30 million. The numbers are expected to go up by 2020, as the country is set to host the Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games next year.

 

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