Okinawa Prefecture To Introduce Fixed-Rate 2% Accommodation Tax from Fiscal 2026

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:04 JST, September 19, 2025

NAHA — The Okinawa prefectural assembly on Thursday passed a bill to introduce an accommodation tax, which will be imposed on people staying at hotels, ryokan inns and other lodging facilities in Okinawa Prefecture.

The tax will be assessed at 2% of the accommodation fee per person per stay across the board, up to a limit of ¥2,000. This is the first time a prefecture has introduced a fixed-rate tax of this kind. The prefecture aims to start collecting the tax in fiscal 2026 after obtaining approval from the Internal Affairs and Communications Minister.

Annual revenue from the tax is expected to be about ¥8 billion, which will be used for promoting tourism. The prefecture will consider how to allocate the money for various tourism-related jobs, such as strengthening systems for receiving tourists, preserving scenery in tourist spots and securing human resources to work in the tourist industry.

The prefecture has also decided on a measure stipulating that the tax will not be imposed on those staying at hotels and other accommodations in the prefecture for educational purposes, such as school trips and extracurricular activities.

A fixed-rate tax, unlike a flat tax, imposes a certain amount of burden on the facilities collecting it, because they have to calculate how much it will be for each guest. However, such a tax also carries with it a sense of fairness because the cost corresponds to the accommodation fees they set. Therefore, the prefecture expects the new tax to help increase the prefecture’s tax revenues in light of the rise in the number of tourists from overseas thanks to factors including the weak yen.

According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, as of the end of July, 35 municipalities across the country had obtained approval from the Internal Affairs and Communications Minister to introduce an accommodation tax. Of these municipalities, only the town of Kutchan in Hokkaido established a fixed-rate tax.