94Ha Viewpoint
Kyoto announced that it will raise the maximum amount of accommodation tax to 10,000 yen next year, becoming the region with the highest tourism tax in Japan. With the increase in the number of tourists visiting Japan, the problem of overtourism has attracted the attention of the Japanese, and more and more local governments are considering imposing accommodation tax to solve the problem on this ground.
Kyoto Mayor Matsui Koji said that public transportation has become crowded, and Kyoto citizens are often squeezed by tourists and unable to get on the bus. There are also problems such as tourists eating while walking and littering. Kyoto will use accommodation tax to build basic measures that make tourists and residents feel comfortable, such as improving the fences of subway platforms, setting up more trash cans and increasing the number of recycling to solve the garbage problem.
Kyoto currently levies accommodation tax on house prices in three levels. Accommodation fees of less than 20,000 yen (about 179 Singapore dollars) per night are charged 200 yen, 20,000 to 50,000 yen are charged 500 yen, and 50,000 yen or more are charged 1,000 yen. After the revision of the regulations, accommodation tax will be collected in six levels. Rooms below 50,000 yen will remain within 1,000 yen. The tax on high-end rooms will change greatly. The tax will be increased to 4,000 yen for rooms between 50,000 and 100,000 yen, and to 10,000 yen for rooms above 100,000 yen.
Kyoto’s accommodation tax revenue last year was about 5.2 billion yen, and it is estimated that the revenue will increase to 12.6 billion yen after the increase. Kyoto first imposed accommodation tax in 2018, and at that time it was used to improve the appearance of the city, saying that it was used to remove electric poles on the road. After the epidemic, due to the sharp increase in inbound tourists, this tax has now been changed to solve the problems caused by “overtourism”.
Takashi Sakamoto, a professor of cultural economics and finance at Tachibana University in Kyoto, said: “So far, tourists have been using Kyoto’s infrastructure without incurring any direct costs, so it is natural to increase the accommodation tax.”
Not all places in Japan levy accommodation tax. As of January this year, eight towns including Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyoto City, Kanazawa City, and Kutchan Town in Hokkaido levy accommodation tax. Nowadays, with the “accommodation tax wave” appearing in various tourist areas, it is understood that the popular Hokkaido plans to introduce accommodation tax uniformly in 2026. In addition, Okinawa Prefecture, Urayasu City, Chiba Prefecture, etc. are also preparing to collect taxes.
Tokyo was the first region to introduce accommodation tax, pioneered by the then governor Shintaro Ishihara in 2002. Since taxpayers of accommodation tax are all passing tourists, few residents care about how the money is used, so the introduction of this tax to increase financial resources faces less resistance. Today, with the surge in tourists visiting Japan, accommodation tax revenue in many places has reached a record high, which has become an important source of income for local governments.
Hotel accommodation tax is actually quite common in areas outside of Japan. Since it is included in the room rate, tourists generally don’t notice it.
The most common tourist tax in Japan is the “hot spring tax” of about 150 yen levied by hot spring hotels on guests. As accommodation tax becomes more and more widespread, some hot spring areas are also exploring raising the hot spring tax.
It is reported that this has caused a backlash from some Japanese hot spring guests. Ken Kato, who is in his 70s, likes to go to the suburbs to soak in hot springs with his wife. He told the author: “We go to the hot spring area for a week each time. If the bathing tax is added to the accommodation tax, it will bring us a double burden.”
In order to protect the natural hot springs and the tourist cities that have been built for a long time, Japan imposes accommodation tax and bathing tax on tourists. It is understandable, but if a tax of up to 10,000 yen is imposed on guests staying in high-end hotels like Kyoto, some hoteliers have begun to worry that it will affect their business. Besides, there are also tourists who take one-day tours in tourist areas. It is not fair to only impose accommodation tax on overnight guests in the name of solving the problem of overtourism.
