Visiting Japan about to become more expensive

Visitors to Japan will pay a new departure tax of 1,000 yen ($12) per person which will take effect from January next year.

Travelers, whether Japanese or from overseas, will be required to pay the levy when they leave Japan by airplane or ship, the House of Councillors decided.

The new tax is designed to build necessary infrastructure and improve services to accommodate an expected increase in visitor numbers to Japan leading up to and beyond the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

Under the new law, toddlers under the age of two and transit passengers leaving Japan within 24 hours of arrival will be exempted, The Japan Times reported.

The country has enjoyed a surge of inbound tourist numbers, who have helped lift the world’s third-largest economy in recent years. The government hopes to boost tourism using the departure tax — expected to raise ¥43 billion a year — as it seeks to attract 40 million visitors annually by 2020.

Between January and March next year, Tokyo estimates revenue from the new tax will reach ¥6 billion and plans to allocate part of it to the installation of gates equipped with facial recognition.

Politicians had already passed legislation limiting the use of departure tax revenue to tourism-related projects, countering criticism that it could be diverted for other purposes.

The tax will be included as part of air fares.

Bellarine Distillery set to unveil new tasting room

The Whiskery, which will open its doors on Anzac Day, is the much anticipated cellar door/tasting room for Bellarine Distillery.

Based in a former Cobb & Co watering hole, owners Russell Watson and Lorelle Warren have transformed an old shed into a high-end venue that will host tastings of Bellarine Distillery whisky and Teddy & The Fox gin.

Everything the couple makes will be produced on site. The single malts are maturing in barrels and should be ready within six to 12 months but the gin is ready right now.

Teddy and the Fox is named after the couple's loyal dog Teddy and The Whiskery will also showcase local wines, ciders and beers, other Australian gins. It will offer a menu of local grazing plates and Italian-style pizzas.

The venue has indoor and outdoor dining options and will have an open fireplace for the cooler months.

The Whiskery will be at 2102-2120 Portarlington Road, Drysdale, VIC. 0468 926 282. 

Scoot launches Wanderlust sale - but you'll have to be quick

Budget airline Scoot has launched a five-day sale offering fares as low as $115 each way between Perth and Singapore and $155 between Sydney and Melbourne and Singapore.

Destinations on offer include Amritsar in India, Osaka in Japan, the Maldives, Langkawi, Cebu, Phuket and Krabi, as well as Athens or Berlin in Europe.

 

Guests must book before Sunday night and fly between April 15 to June 15, or July 20 to September 15. 

The fares are flight only, including taxes, but bags and food are extra. 

Among the enticing-looking business offers are a wide leather reclining seat in ScootBiz from $289 one way from Perth to Singapore, $359 from Gold Coast, $379 from Sydney and $399 from Melbourne.  

These are all-in fares including taxes, a meal and a drink, 30kg checked baggage, 15kg carry on, ScooTV inflight streaming entertainment, and priority check-in and boarding, in a dedicated cabin up front.

And to save on all-in FLYBAGEAT fares (including 20kg checked baggage and a meal), enter the promo code MUSTGO for an extra $25 off each fare.

To sweeten the deal, Scoot has also partnered with global roaming provider Flexiroam to provide Scoot guests booking flights through the website or the Scoot mobile app with a complimentary Flexiroam X microchip with 100MB of data usage. 

Check out the deals at www.flyscoot.com 

Which country is the world's biggest wine exporter?

Which country exports more wine than any other? 

The surprise answer is not France, as most of you would have guessed, but Spain.

Spain retained its place at the top of the wine pyramid for global exports ahead of Italy and France having exported 22.8 million hectolitres of wine in 2017, Euronews reported.

It remains significantly ahead of its nearest export rival – Italy ­– which exported 21 million hectolitres of wine last year.

France lagged behind in third place with 15 million hectolitres exported, but led the way in value terms, with export sales worth €9 billion last year.

Italy came second to France last year for value exports, with value sales of €6 billion, while Spain lagged behind in third place with just €2.8 billion in value sales.

Spain’s average price per litre of wine currently stands at €1.25, while French wine commands €6 per litre and Italian wine €2.78.

Spain’s low wine prices put the country behind Australia and Chile in value terms, with only South Africa selling its wine for less, at an average of €1.23 per litre.

“It is true that we are relatively far from France and Italy in value terms and this is fundamentally due to the greater experience the French and Italians have in the international markets compared to the Spanish market,” said Rafael del Rey, general manager of the Spanish Wine Market Observatory. 

Spain remains reliant on bulk wine production, with over half of its total production last year – 12.6 million hectolitres – sold as bulk wine.

A remarkable 90% of Spanish exports went to five European countries: France, Germany, Britain, 

If Spain wants to improve its value sales then it needs to reduce its production of bulk wine and promote its premium wines.

Time to crack down on carry-on baggage abusers

There were dozens of them on my most recent domestic flight.

A group of American tourists armed with full-loaded suitcases; backpackers whose giant packs whacked into the heads of anyone sitting in an aisle seat; little old ladies who needed help to hoist their mammoth bags into the overhead luggage compartment and back down again.

No one pays any attention to the carry-on luggage limits on domestic flights; no surprise given that none of the airlines makes a serious effort at punishing passengers with carry-on luggage that exceeds the "strict" 7kg weight limit.

In an apparent crackdown, Virgin Australia is ordering passengers with overweight carry-on bags to turned around and check in their bags.

I'd go further. If you turn up at the boarding gate with excessive luggage then that luggage doesn't make the flight. You do, but your luggage doesn't. You can wait for it to arrive on the next flight. 

Word would quickly spread that it simply isn't worth taking the risk. Some passengers, sure, will still believe that the rules don't apply to them. Too bad.

Virgin Australia has a strict 7kg carry-on limit for all domestic passengers, including business class guests. Virgin’s website cites safety reasons for the limit, claiming that overweight carry-on baggage “may cause injury to our guests and crew”.

By comparison, Qantas also has a carry-on weight limit of 7kg per piece but allows each passenger to bring up to two pieces of carry-on luggage. Both Qantas and Virgin Australia also allow an additional “personal item” to be carried onto the plane, such as a laptop computer, handbag or book.

Follow the rules and you won't have a problem.

Vacant: one of the most important winemaking jobs in Australia

More than a million glasses of Jacob's Creek wine are enjoyed around the world every day - but the man responsible for making them has just announced he is standing down.

Ben Bryant, chief winemaker for Pernod Ricard Winemakers, only took over from Bernard Hickin a couple of years ago - a fresh new face with plenty of bright ideas. 

But Wine Business Monthly dropped a bombshell in its weekly newsletter with a brief "rumour" item that Bryant was moving on. I'd chatted with him in late January and he'd given no indication a switch was on the cards.  

I contacted Ben over the weekend and he confirmed: "Yes, the news is true. I am heading to the Okanagan Valley in Canada, with the Mark Anthony Group and will be based at Mission Hill." 

Mission Hill is a beautiful winery in a beautiful part of Canada

Bryant began his wine career working as a cellar hand for a vintage at Poet’s Corner in Mudgee before rapidly climbing the ranks at Pernod Ricard, where he worked in winemaking and marketing positions. He will be a loss to the Australian wine industry.