News on June 5: Mount Fuji is a symbol of Japan. The Japanese government is making efforts to have Mount Fuji included in the World Heritage List. As a result, experts predict that once Mount Fuji becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the number of tourists, climbers, and worshippers visiting the mountain will surge significantly. To address this, relevant departments have begun exploring the possibility of charging climbers an entry fee; tourism economics experts have also estimated the potential cost of such fees.
According to Japan’s Kyodo News, the country is currently working to have Mount Fuji added to the World Heritage List. With the World Heritage Committee meeting approaching, the likelihood of Mount Fuji’s inclusion is high. Once it successfully becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the number of climbers is expected to rise sharply. To control the surge in climbers, the management authorities of Mount Fuji have started discussing the implementation of an entry fee. On June 4, Professor Koichi Kuriyama from Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Economics presented his estimates. According to Kuriyama, in order to keep the number of climbers at current levels in the future, an entry fee of around 7,000 yen per climber may be required.
Kuriyama explained that according to statistics, other World Heritage Sites such as Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture and Shirakami-Sanchi, located between Aomori and Akita Prefectures, saw visitor numbers increase more than threefold within five years of their inscription. Based on the latest data, in 2012, the number of climbers on Mount Fuji reached approximately 320,000, and it is projected to rise by about 30% to around 410,000 after becoming a World Heritage Site.