What are Airport/Departure Taxes?

[jo1to6]

Hello,

I was looking at the websites of a number of tour operators. I noticed that there are always extra fees like Airport and Departure taxes. Can someone explain to me what these are? Some of these fees can go up to $250 per person depending on where you travel and the fees vary between tour operators.

I did some searching on the net, and I noticed that the airports themselves seem to list little or no "taxes"?

Are these for costs for real, or is this a way for the tour operators to pad their bottom line?

Thanks!

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Airport taxes are generally paid by consumers to the airlines (who then pay it to the airport) and included in the cost of the ticket. Departure taxes are usually paid by the person leaving the country at the point of departure, and are typically an opportunity for customs officers to collect bribes. Dunno why a tourist agency would collect the departure tax, unless they plan to bribe the customs officers en masse to let your tour group through (and take their own cut off the top, probably).