KYOTO –
Kyoto City expects revenue from its accommodation tax to more than double to approximately 13.2 billion yen this fiscal year following a substantial increase in the maximum nightly levy to 10,000 yen, as the city seeks to address overtourism and ease the pressure that millions of visitors place on residents and public infrastructure.
The revised tax structure, approved in March, retains the minimum charge of 200 yen per person per night while introducing higher rates of 400 yen, 1,000 yen and 4,000 yen depending on accommodation costs. The maximum levy has increased tenfold from 1,000 yen to 10,000 yen for stays costing 100,000 yen or more per person per night.
The increase represents one of Kyoto’s most ambitious attempts to make tourism contribute more directly to the costs associated with its popularity as one of the world’s leading travel destinations. City officials argue that visitors should share the financial burden of maintaining services and infrastructure, particularly as overcrowding increasingly disrupts daily life.
Six months after the revision, details are emerging about how the additional revenue is being allocated, ranging from measures to reduce litter and improve public transportation to subway renovations, accessibility improvements and programs designed to attract school excursions.
However, questions remain about whether residents are experiencing meaningful benefits from the higher tax and whether the city is spending the additional money effectively.
One of the most visible problems is the accumulation of garbage around major tourist attractions, including Fushimi Inari Taisha, a shrine that attracts large numbers of domestic and international visitors throughout the year.
Restaurants and shops surrounding the shrine benefit from steady tourist traffic, with visitors frequently purchasing food and drinks to consume while walking through the neighborhood. But nearby residential streets have become informal dumping grounds for discarded packaging, plastic bottles and cigarette butts.
A local resident said neighbors regularly collect garbage left by tourists, including plastic coffee containers, drink bottles and cigarette waste.
Kyoto City has previously installed garbage bins and warning signs and conducted public awareness campaigns, but the measures have failed to eliminate littering.
This year, the municipal government introduced a more systematic approach, using accommodation tax revenue to fund continuous surveys of garbage around tourist destinations.
Working with a local senior employment center, the city is deploying workers to collect litter approximately 200 days a year. The project is intended not only to keep streets clean but also to document the types, quantities and locations of discarded waste.
The information will help officials determine where additional garbage bins and other countermeasures would be most effective. Maintaining a visible workforce in affected neighborhoods is also expected to discourage littering.
A city official said residents have expressed support for using accommodation tax revenue on projects with direct, observable benefits, adding that the findings would help shape future policies.
The garbage initiative illustrates the broader financial mechanism behind accommodation taxes, which local governments across Japan are increasingly adopting in major tourist destinations. Municipalities can impose the levy on guests staying at hotels, traditional inns and other accommodation facilities, with considerable discretion over how the proceeds are used.
That flexibility also creates an obligation to demonstrate how the money benefits the community.
Kyoto’s most pressing challenge remains overcrowding, particularly on its public transportation network.
City buses, a principal means of transportation for residents, are frequently packed with tourists traveling between major attractions and the city center. Congestion and delays have become routine, interfering with commuting and other essential journeys.
One resident who uses the bus to travel to work expressed frustration with the continuing overcrowding and questioned whether conditions could be improved.
To address the problem, Kyoto City has announced plans to change the boarding and payment arrangements on its municipal buses.
Under the existing system, passengers generally board through the rear or center door and pay when leaving through the front. During busy periods, passengers moving through crowded vehicles to reach the exit can delay boarding and disembarking, contributing to longer stops, traffic congestion and disruptions to bus schedules.
The city plans to introduce front-door boarding with fares paid in advance and passengers exiting through the center door. The revised arrangement is intended to improve passenger movement and shorten stopping times.
Preparatory work, including changes to signs and passenger information systems, will be carried out ahead of the planned introduction in fiscal 2028.
Part of the additional accommodation tax revenue is being allocated to the project.
The city is also using the tax to help tourists avoid crowded destinations by providing real-time information about congestion.
At Kiyomizu-zaka, the busy approach to Kiyomizu Temple, cameras monitor pedestrian conditions and feed information into an online map covering major sightseeing locations.
Visitors can access the service free of charge and check current crowding levels before deciding where to go. The system includes cameras installed at 30 locations throughout Kyoto.
A location experiencing heavy congestion, for example, is identified on the map, allowing travelers to view conditions around attractions such as Kiyomizu Temple.
The service was previously funded primarily through national government resources, but Kyoto City has allocated approximately 40 million yen from accommodation tax revenue to its operation this fiscal year.
The funding will support system upgrades and maintenance, with the aim of making the information more useful and encouraging tourists to spread their visits across different locations and times.
Despite these initiatives, public awareness of how the tax is being spent remains limited.
Some tourists interviewed in Kyoto said they knew little about the programs financed through the accommodation tax, with one commenting that visitors simply pay the money.
Residents similarly expressed uncertainty about whether the increased revenue had improved their lives. One said there had been little noticeable benefit, while another reported no clear sense that conditions had changed.
The city is consequently directing part of the revenue toward infrastructure projects that serve both residents and visitors.
One such project involves renovations to toilets at municipal subway stations, many of which have been in use for years and have drawn complaints from residents about aging facilities.
Approximately 50 million yen in accommodation tax revenue has been allocated to improvements at toilets across the municipal subway network.
The work includes installing heated bidet toilet seats and increasing the number of women’s toilet facilities, addressing longstanding concerns about convenience and accessibility.
Another project focuses on the underground passage connecting Hankyu Karasuma Station and the municipal subway’s Shijo Station.
The connecting passage includes stairs that present difficulties for wheelchair users and people traveling with strollers. Although a mechanical stair lift is available, passengers must call station staff to operate it.
A parent using the passage said the stroller was too heavy to carry up the stairs alone, making the lift necessary.
Kyoto City has decided to install an elevator to improve accessibility, allocating approximately 27 million yen in accommodation tax revenue to the project.
Officials say such investments provide benefits beyond tourism, improving convenience for residents while also making the city easier to navigate for visitors.
Another, less obvious use of the higher tax revenue is supporting school excursions, a traditional and economically important segment of Kyoto’s tourism industry.
Kyoto has long been one of Japan’s most popular destinations for junior high school trips, offering students opportunities to experience historic temples, traditional performing arts and cultural activities.
However, the city has recently seen a declining trend in the number of schools choosing Kyoto for excursions, partly because of concerns about tourist congestion and rising hotel costs.
To reverse that trend, Kyoto is expanding programs that give visiting students access to traditional cultural performances.
A group of junior high school students from Fukuoka recently enjoyed sightseeing and souvenir shopping in Kyoto before attending a special cultural event at their accommodation.
Using accommodation tax revenue, the city arranged a free performance by a professional maiko, an apprentice geisha, allowing the students to experience traditional Kyoto entertainment.
One student described the performer as exceptionally charming and praised the smooth, elegant movements of her dancing.
With the additional tax revenue, Kyoto has expanded its educational tourism programs this year to include opportunities to experience traditional performing arts such as Noh and Kyogen.
A city official described visiting students as potential lifelong supporters of Kyoto, saying the aim was not simply to encourage repeat tourism but also to make the city an attractive choice for future education and employment.
The official said schoolchildren visiting Kyoto could eventually return as university students, workers or residents, making their early impressions of the city particularly important.
The broad range of projects demonstrates how Kyoto is attempting to distribute the financial benefits of tourism across public services, cultural promotion and infrastructure.
Nevertheless, scrutiny is growing over whether the higher accommodation tax is producing genuinely additional improvements or simply replacing money previously provided through the city’s general budget.
Several initiatives now receiving accommodation tax funding existed before the increase and had previously relied on other municipal revenue sources.
Meanwhile, traffic congestion and overcrowding remain serious problems even before the peak autumn tourism season, suggesting that the measures have yet to produce fundamental improvements.
Kyoto Mayor Koji Matsui has said the city is prioritizing spending on measures to prevent tourism from negatively affecting neighborhoods and daily life, while also investing in longer-term initiatives that will shape the future of transportation and urban development.
An examination of the city’s financial plans reveals that a substantial portion of the expected additional revenue will not be spent immediately.
Kyoto intends to place approximately 3 billion yen into reserve funds for future financial needs and projects.
The amount represents roughly 40% of the more than 7 billion yen in additional accommodation tax revenue expected this fiscal year.
The decision raises questions about the balance between addressing current problems and building reserves for future investments, particularly when residents continue to experience crowded buses, traffic delays and other consequences of overtourism.
An expert examining the city’s accommodation tax policy said the substantial increase in revenue makes broader public discussion about spending priorities increasingly important.
The expert suggested establishing forums where residents and other stakeholders could discuss which projects deserve more funding and which could be scaled back.
Such discussions, the expert argued, would make the allocation of accommodation tax revenue more transparent and help ensure the money is directed toward areas where it can provide the greatest benefit.
Kyoto’s experience reflects a broader challenge facing major tourist destinations in Japan: maintaining the economic benefits of tourism while protecting the quality of life of the people who live there.
The city’s higher accommodation tax provides a considerably larger financial resource to pursue that balance, but the effectiveness of the policy will ultimately depend on whether the spending produces improvements that residents and visitors can recognize.
With more than 13 billion yen in annual revenue expected, Kyoto faces growing pressure to demonstrate that the additional burden placed on tourists is being translated into practical solutions to overcrowding, deteriorating infrastructure and the changing needs of the city.
Source: YOMIURI
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: newsonjapan.com
