Photo/Illutration Matsumoto Castle in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, on June 23 (Yuichi Koyama)

MATSUMOTO, Nagano Prefecture—Matsumoto city will raise entrance fees for Matsumoto Castle but will not charge foreign tourists more than Japanese visitors, Mayor Yoshinao Gaun said at a news conference.

The city will also introduce an accommodation tax to increase revenues to improve the environment for sightseers.

The end of COVID-19 restrictions and the weakened yen have led to skyrocketing numbers of inbound tourists--and the need to secure financial resources to deal with the increasing demand for tourism.

The entrance fees for Matsumoto Castle are currently 700 yen ($4.80) for adults and 300 yen for elementary and middle schoolers.

The city estimates revenue from castle fees this fiscal year will be around 540 million yen.

Asked when the fees will rise, the mayor said, “We are considering next April.”

He said he will discuss the size of the increase with the related division of the municipal office and hold a vote at the city assembly.

SEISMIC REINFORCEMENT WORK

The fee hikes to enter Matsumoto Castle will be the first since January 2020, following the results of a quake-resistance diagnosis for the main tower keep.

The study found the keep would not withstand an earthquake with an intensity of 6 to 7 on the Japanese seismic scale. The added revenue from the ticket price increases was needed to cover costs to deploy additional personnel to prepare for emergency situations.

The hikes this time are for “building a comfortable environment for tourists to see around the castle,” Gaun said.

According to city officials, around 900,000 tourists visited the castle last fiscal year, about the same as pre-pandemic levels. Foreign visitors accounted for about 160,000 of the total, a record high.

Matsumoto city is reinforcing the main tower keep and restoring the outer moat to preserve the castle, a main sightseeing spot in the city.

The total estimated cost for those projects exceeds 7.4 billion yen.

To deal with the long lines for tickets to enter the castle, the city in July introduced e-tickets that enable visitors to avoid the queues.

The Himeji municipal government in Hyogo Prefecture is considering charging foreign tourists more than Japanese visitors to enter Himeji Castle.

Gaun, asked if Matsumoto was planning to set different entrance fees for foreigners and Japanese, rejected the idea, saying such a system would go against Japan’s concept of “omotenashi” (hospitality).

“It is not a good idea because we want to do omotenashi by offering comfortable experiences,” he said.

HOTEL TAXES

The number of tourists who visited Matsumoto during 2023 was about 4.6 million.

Matsumoto will further discuss the size of its planned accommodation tax and how to collect the levy from hotel guests.

The city plans to use revenue from the new tax for additional measures to promote tourism.

The Matsumoto Tourism and Convention Association, which is in charge of such measures, had asked the city to introduce the tax on hotel guests.

Matsumoto will introduce the accommodation tax from April 2026. Around the same time, Nagano Prefecture also intends to impose new tourism-promotion taxes on hotel guests.

“We want to secure financial resources from tourism revenues to promote tourism,” a Matsumoto city official said.

Other municipalities in Nagano Prefecture, such as Karuizawa, Achi, Hakuba and Yamanouchi, are also considering the introduction of accommodation taxes.

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