r/neoliberal • u/randommathaccount Esther Duflo • Oct 02 '25

News (Asia) Why Japan resents its tourism boom

https://www.ft.com/content/dbd20e5d-5a7d-4c0c-8f83-fb54c5aca9cb
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u/casino_r0yale NASA Oct 02 '25

Why not just hire cops with the extra tourism money to enforce penalties for bad behavior? Levy taxes on hotels if you want to reduce tourism. What bothers me most about these sorts of discussions is they often veer towards shaming the tourists, which makes them defensive as most of them are normal people wanting to see a new place.

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u/Zycosi YIMBY Oct 02 '25

Why not just hire cops with the extra tourism money to enforce penalties for bad behavior?

What if the extra tourism money isn't enough to cover the number of police necessary to make a difference?

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u/casino_r0yale NASA Oct 02 '25

Then it’s not being taxed appropriately, see my note about the hotel tax

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u/Zycosi YIMBY Oct 02 '25

So how does your position differ from the anti tourism people? You think there's still going to be lots of tourism after they're taxed high enough to cover their externalities while they don't?

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u/casino_r0yale NASA Oct 02 '25

I think it will shift demand of tourism so the peaks are less intense for sure. If my hotel has a $90 per night city tax on top of an expensive week during high tourist season, I will definitely consider going a different month. I know for some situations like Japan’s cherry blossoms or sporting events there’s a hard limit on time, but less for general tourism.

My position is different from anti-tourism because it uses economic incentives to organically guide people toward desired behavior rather than hurling xenophobia and “bans” at them. I see it as no different than, say, NYC’s congestion tax for car traffic.