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Air passenger departure tax
Following is a question by the Hon Howard Young and a written reply by the acting Secretary for the Treasury, Mr Kevin Ho, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Reply:
Will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a)
(b)
(a)
(b)
it has received any complaints or opinions from the airlines that the current practice of relying on the airlines to collect the airport departure tax is detrimental to their provision of an efficient customer service at the check-in counters; and
it will consider adopting the practice in other international airports and using vending machines or special counters at the new airport at Chek Lap Kok to collect airport departure tax and other related charges direct from passengers?
We have received views from the airlines that the current method of collecting air passenger departure tax at the airline check-in counters in the airport should be improved so that the airlines can provide a more efficient service to passengers at their counters.
We have set up a working group within the Administration to examine possible alternatives for the collection of air passenger departure tax. In this process, we will examine all possible alternatives including the installation of vending machines and the setting up of special counters in the new airport for the purpose. Apart from the departure tax, there are no other related charges which have to be collected direct from passengers.
End