Japan mulls ‘departure tax’ on travelers in 2019

Japan plans to start collecting a “departure tax” of up to 1,000 yen ($9) from 2019 from tourists and its own citizens who leave the country, media has reported.

The government will put the tax in its reform proposal for next year, which will be worked out late this year, according to the Asahi Shimbun.

The “sayonara tax”, which will be added to airfares and other transportation fares, is expected to increase the government’s coffers by 40 billion yen.

There were about 40 million departures from Japan last year, including 17 million by Japanese nationals, the Asahi Shimbun said.

Japan Tourism Agency has cited Australia and South Korea, which have already collected “departure” levies, for reference.

The Japanese government said the income would be used for such purposes as speeding up immigration and emigration procedures.

At a news conference in October, Yoshiharu Ueki, president of Japan Airlines, urged the government to think carefully on the new tax because it could cast a dampener on Japan’s tourism.

The one-way fare for speed boats from Tsushima in Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture to Busan in South Korea costs 8,000 yen. The local travel agencies are concerned about that the departure tax would reduce their customers.

Record number

As of Nov 4, the number of foreign visitors to Japan this year had already surpassed the record of 24.04 million visitors set last year, thanks to more budget airlines and cruise ships connecting Japan with its neighbors such as South Korea and China.

“We’d like to accelerate steps to cultivate new tourism resources,” said Keiichi Ishii, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, on Friday.

The government has set a goal of 40 million inbound tourists in 2020 — up 60 percent from the current level — and 60 million in 2030.

But not every place in Japan is happy about a large influx of tourists.

Residents in Kyoto, one of Japan’s most popular tourist destinations, have complained that more than 55 million of tourists every year are“exceeding the limit” the city can stand and describe the situation in the city as “pollution by tourism” that causes a shortage of accommodation and crowded public transportation and traffic jams.

On Nov 2, Kyoto approved an accommodation tax on all overnight stays in the city in the name of improving its transport and other tourismrelated systems, according to the Asahi Shimbun.

If Japan’s Internal Affairs Ministry approves Kyoto’s proposal, all guests will have to pay 200 to 1,000 yen in lodging tax per night in the city, possibly from October next year, the Kyodo News said.

Lodging taxes are collected in Tokyo and Osaka prefecture, but apply only to rooms priced at 10,000 yen or more per night. The proposed tax in Kyoto, which applies to all forms of lodgings, would be the first of its kind in Japan. The Straits Times/ANN contributed to this story.