The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the Japanese government is considering a double pricing system in which foreigners receive higher admission fees at national museums and art galleries.
The Cultural Office is considering this policy to improve the profit structure of national museums and art museum corporations.
National museums and art galleries have a weak profit structure enough to rely on government grants for more than half of their income, and additional costs such as multilingual voice guides for foreigners are required.
Overseas, the Egyptian Pyramid and the Taj Mahal in India operate a double-price system, and the Louvre Museum in France plans to raise admission fees for non-EU tourists next year.
Japan’s finance ministry expects foreign tourist fares to be about two to three times that of ordinary tourists if the dual pricing system is introduced, Yomiuri said.
Earlier, there was controversy in Japan as some restaurants and amusement facilities applied double pricing, such as receiving additional fees from foreigners.
In particular, earlier this year, the city of Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, considered a significant increase in foreign admission fees to Himeji Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but changed the target of the increase to visitors rather than citizens of Himeji due to opposition from the city council.
EJ SONG
US ASIA JOURNAL
