KYOTO -- Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa said at a regular press conference on Wednesday that the city will aim to curb construction of new accommodations in response to a sharp increase in the number of lodging facilities in the city.
Due to problems such as some tourists' poor manners and a lack of land, the city government has changed its conventional policy of aiming to attract more tourists.
To cope with the shortage of accommodations, the city government started attracting new hotels in 2016 by opening an office intended to support hotel operators who were considering opening new lodging facilities in the city. It set a goal of increasing the number of guest rooms in the city from about 30,000 in 2016 to 40,000 by 2020.
However, the number had reached 46,000 as of March this year and there was a shortage of land for offices and houses in the central parts of the city where new hotels were built one after another.
With the increase in the number of tourists, their influence on local citizens' lives -- such as displaying poor photo etiquette in the Gion entertainment district and causing traffic jams around town -- has become a problem.
At the press conference, Kadokawa said, "We declare that we will refuse the entry of accommodations that do not attach importance to certain matters, including the preservation of local culture."
The city government will discuss specific regulations with experts, the mayor said.
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