Japan has introduced a departure tax for people leaving the country from 7 January 2019. The country will start collecting the tax of ¥1,000 (8,23 EUR/9,33 USD) per person leaving the country by aircraft of shift regardless of their nationality.
This revenue will be used develop the country’s tourism bases and improve immigration procedures. Specifically, the funds will be used to set up facial recognition gates at airports, multilingual information boards, and cashless payment terminals for public transportation.
Only people who are leaving Japan within 24 hours of their arrival and children under 2 years of age will be exempted from this departure tax. Also, flight tickets to Japan purchased and issued before 7th Jan 2019 will also be exempted.
Information about International Tourist Tax Imposed on Travelers Leaving Japan (as of January 7, 2019)
1. Applies To : Passengers on flights departing from Japan
2. Rate : JPY 1,000 (Same for adults and minors)
3. Effective Date : As of January 7, 2019
* Airline tickets purchased as of this date
* Also applies to tickets that are changed after the effective date, even though the tickets were purchased before January 7, 2019.
* International tourist tax will be collected with the payment for airfare and other applicable fees during booking.
4. Exemption
Children under the age of 2
Transit passengers transferring to different international flights (passengers leaving Japan within 24 hours of entry).
However, international tourist tax applies to passengers transiting Japan within 24 hours if the airport before entering Japan and the airport after exiting Japan are the same.
Revenue from the tax is estimated to amount to around 43 billion yen per fiscal year. There were about 40 million departures from Japan in 2016, including 17 million by Japanese nationals.
