Amid the transition to a service economy and the shrinking population, tourism is looked to as an engine for regional economic stimulus. However, the efforts involved in tourism promotion are wide ranging, and no small number of these initiatives entail a high level of difficulty.
There is a growing awareness that to develop these initiatives reliably, it is necessary to possess the resources required to develop a wide range of projects sustainably. While the introduction of accommodation taxes as discretionary special-purpose taxes or the increase of bathing taxes, etc., is being considered as such a funding source across Japan, the reality is that aversion to taxes and misunderstandings are common.
Therefore, in this special feature, we will cover foreign and domestic cases studies and systems for accommodation taxes, etc., and offer suggestions toward the introduction and use of tourism promotion funding sources.