Why does Japan intend to levy a departure tax on tourists?

The Japan Tourism Agency has begun to discuss new financial resources to improve domestic tourism resources, and a plan to levy a certain amount of departure tax on visitors to Japan has surfaced. Japan hopes to form a virtuous circle, use this financial resources to strengthen local tourism facilities, attract tourists from all over the world, and then further guide them to the local area. However, there are still many problems to be solved in terms of specific measures such as amount and target, and the system design may hit the trend of increasing tourists visiting Japan.

In the "Sightseeing Vision Realization Plan 20 17" formulated by Japan Tourism Agency in May, it was stated that the "beneficiary burden method" would be adopted as a measure to ensure the financial resources for promoting sightseeing. Tamura Mingbi Valley, director of the Tourism Department, also said, "In order to improve the domestic tourist reception environment, the departure tax will be discussed." At present, the cases in Europe and America are being studied, and adjustments are made to incorporate the requirements of the revision of the 20 18 tax system.

There are also cases of introduction overseas. In Britain, international and domestic airlines levy departure tax on passengers according to their distance. The per capita levy of economy class below 2000 miles is about 1900 yen (about RMB 1 15.4 yuan), and the total amount is about 380 billion yen, which is used as general financial resources. In addition, France collects nearly 1 000 yen (about RMB 60 yuan) when tourists go outside the EU, more than 500 yen (about RMB 30 yuan) at home and in the EU, and spends about 65 billion yen on airport construction.

In 20 16, the number of tourists to Japan reached 24.04 million. Simply calculate, assuming that 1 people gather together 1000 yen, we can guarantee the financial resources of about 24 billion yen. The Japanese Ministry of Finance stated that "if there are specific measures, discussions will be held before the end of the year".

Visitors to Japan still focus on the "golden route" of Tokyo, Mount Fuji and Kansai, and guiding tourists to local cities in Japan has become a topic. To this end, the re-improvement of tourism resources is essential. Japan Tourism Agency envisages using new financial resources to restore local old houses, cultural heritage and national parks, which will provide more "experiential consumption" for visitors to Japan.

However, the threshold for levying departure tax is very high, and there are still many ambiguities at present. Whether to include Japanese tourists and whether to limit the target to foreign tourists is still uncertain.

Around the taxation method, Japan will discuss adding the same mechanism to the air ticket fee as the domestic airport use fee. Overseas countries adopt poll tax, which Japan once asked airlines to bear. Narita Airport charges passengers on international routes 26 10 yen per capita in the name of service facilities use fee and security service fee. Airlines and tourism are cautious about increasing taxes in the form of new taxes.

Under the background that Tokyo Olympic Games and Paralympics will be held in three years, in order to achieve the goal of 40 million visitors to Japan by 2020, Japan needs to expand the scope of attracting tourists, with European and American countries as the leading factor. With regard to the consumption of tourists visiting Japan, it is necessary to strive to reach 8 trillion yen, about twice as much as it is now, and it is also indispensable to improve national tourism resources.

Japanese food is very good, so there is no departure tax. It is better to work hard on food.