Tourism Niseko to introduce accommodation tax

Visitors will be required to pay between 100 to 2,000 JPY per night based on their nightly room charge, which is divided into five brackets starting from less than 5,001 to 100,000 JPY and over per person. School-related trips will be exempt from the tax. Given the increase in foreign tourists, the town of Niseko had originally planned to introduce a fixed-rate tax that would collect 2 per cent of the room charge, but changed strategy in consideration of the administrative burden on operators. Accommodation taxes have already been introduced in Tokyo as well as Osaka and Fukuoka prefectures, and six municipalities including Kanazawa and Nagasaki, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

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nice gaijin said:

100 yen I could stomach, but a 2,000 yen per night surcharge seems like a lot... I guess if I'm paying 100,000 per night for the hotel I wouldn't care as much though.

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The price hikes extend to accommodations in the area, with a private lodging operator in Rankoshi, a town in the Niseko area, saying he raised his nightly rates by more than 10 percent from 88,000 yen to 99,000 yen due to the weaker yen. "Other places around here have also been raising prices," he said, adding that his property is fully booked until mid-March.

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In one restaurant, an Australian woman said she felt satisfied after spending 10,000 yen ($66) on sushi. A Chinese visitor remarked that while it was not cheap, the prices were reasonable considering how expensive things are in Europe.

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Petaris said:

Why do I feel like they are just cherry picking responses they get to support their stance?

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