Japan’s Miyajima island introduces tax on visitors to help curb ‘dangerous’ overtourism
- A tourism spokesperson says the spot, home to the Itsukushima Shrine, is prone to overcrowding at peak periods, with 4.6 million visitors last year
- It follows other hotspots such as Kyoto in implementing levies to control numbers
Miyajima, in the Inland Sea off the city of Hiroshima, is famous for the Itsukushima Shrine, which appears to float on the waters of a narrow bay at high water. The island has long been popular among Japanese travellers, and was named one of Japan’s top scenic sights as early as 1643.
With a growing number of domestic and foreign visitors, however, Miyajima has become overcrowded at the busiest times of the year, such as cherry-blossom season in the spring and fireworks festivals in the summer.
The local government, which spent Ұ900 million (US$8.2 million) on a new ferry terminal for tourists in 2019, has now announced that it is considering imposing a tax of Ұ100 (91 US cents) on all visitors.
“There were more than 4.6 million visitors last year and the popularity of Miyajima has really risen since it was listed on the Unesco World Heritage list [in 1996],” said Emiko Maruko, a spokeswoman for the city’s tourism division.
“Right now, Miyajima is always in the top things to do in Japan on the Trip Advisor website so it’s often very busy,” she said.
“There are lots of things that we want to do to improve the island for visitors, so the city is considering this new tax. We don’t think there is overtourism all the time, but there are definitely times of the year when there are too many people and levels of overcrowding there are dangerous.”
