Japanese Government To Relax Hotel Floor Area Ratio

Above, inside the Hotel Sunroute Asakusa. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

With the big rise in foreign tourism to Japan, the shortage of hotel rooms and other accommodations has become more apparent.

But, the Japanese government is taking steps to encourage more hotel construction.

The latest is from The Japan News (Yomiuri Shimbun):

The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry plans to relax the floor area ratio of buildings so that larger hotels can be built on sites with the same areas when hotels are newly built or rebuilt, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. 

The ministry reportedly will notify local governments across the nation about the measure as early as this summer. Given that a shortage of hotels has been becoming serious in major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka due to a rapid increase in the number of foreign tourists, the measure is aimed at encouraging construction and improvement of hotels, according to sources. It also is expected that even in regional cities, if old buildings are rebuilt into hotels, it will help attract more tourists to these cities. 

If the floor area ratio is relaxed, it will become possible to construct hotels with a larger number of floors and guestrooms.

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