Japan Tourism Agency To Seek Lowering Purchase Threshold

Above, Asakusa's Nakamise Street in Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Japan is planning to making more moves to entice foreign visitors to the country.

The latest is a plan to lower the purchase threshold so that foreign visitors can make more purchases that are exempted from taxes.

The Japan Times reported:

The Japan Tourism Agency will seek to expand the scope of consumption tax-free shopping for foreign visitors as part of efforts to spread the economic benefits of a tourism boom throughout the country, officials said Thursday. 

The tourism agency will call for lowering the minimum expenditure amount subject to the exemption of 8 percent tax to ¥5,000 (about $40) from the current ¥10,001. The request will be made soon, as part of the annual calls for tax changes in the next fiscal year. 

The lowering of the minimum amount would not only enable foreign visitors to buy expensive products such as appliances and clothing at shops in major cities tax-free, but also crafted goods and other cheaper souvenirs in regional tourist destinations.

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