Why you'll now be paying extra to leave Japan

Japan will now charge travellers a tax before they depart. Photo / Getty Images

If you thought travelling was expensive enough, heading to Japan will now cost you that little bit extra.

As of today, the popular holiday destination will collect a departure tax of ¥1000 ($13.60) for each person leaving the country by aircraft or ship regardless of nationality, news.com.au reports.

The new tax, which was announced in April 2018, will be collected each time someone departs the country and will be a cost on top of their airfare, ship fare and other travel fees.

It is understood the fee will be collected by the Japanese government, which will use the revenue to accommodate more foreign visitors to the country, develop tourism bases and improve immigration procedures, officials said, according to The Japan Times.

According to the report, only those who depart 24 hours after landing in Japan and children under two years old will be exempted from the tax.

For the first time, visitors to Japan reached 30 million. The revenue from the tax, which is predicted to reach ¥6 billion in fiscal 2018 through March 2019 and ¥50 billion in fiscal 2019.

Proceeds from the tax will be used to set up facial recognition at arrival gates to help with speedier immigration procedures, and also help to fund more cashless payment terminals for the public.

Speaking to Japanese newspasper The Mainichi, finance professor Hideaki Tanaka said the money would need to be put to good use to avoid any pushback from travellers.

"It will be necessary to check that the funds are not being used on less productive measures, but in ways that taxpayers find convincing," Hideaki Tanaka, a finance professor at Meiji University's Graduate School of Governance Studies, said.

Japan hopes to welcome 40 million tourist visitors by 2020.