Mount Fuji, certainly one of Japan’s sacred mountains and a preferred pilgrimage website, might turn into much less enticing if the variety of vacationers isn’t introduced below management, the native authorities warn.
“Fuji is screaming in ache. We are able to’t simply watch for enchancment,” Masatake Izumi, a Yamanashi prefectural authorities official, advised CNN throughout a tour for overseas media on Saturday, including that “overtourism” must be tackled urgently.
Izumi was quoted by Reuters as saying that “Fuji faces an actual disaster” due to the “uncontrollable” move of vacationers. “We concern that Mount Fuji will quickly turn into so unattractive, no person would wish to climb it,” he mentioned.
Based on authorities officers, the post-Covid tourism increase has introduced hundreds of hikers to the mountain, inflicting environmental injury and putting further strain on the primary support companies.
Regardless of the introduction of a marketing campaign urging guests to not litter, with volunteers eradicating tons of trash annually, each hikers and caretakers complain about overcrowding and the piles of litter left alongside the trail.
Mount Fuji ranger Miho Sakurai advised reporters that there are “approach too many individuals on Mount Fuji in the meanwhile,” together with many inexperienced “first timers,” typically underdressed, poorly outfitted, and vulnerable to hypothermia or altitude illness. In consequence, rescue requests have elevated by 50% from final yr and one individual died in April in a climbing accident.
An lively volcano identified for its picturesque snowcap and certainly one of Japan’s nationwide symbols, the mountain was acknowledged as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage website in 2013. The variety of guests to Fuji greater than doubled between 2012 and 2019 to five.1 million, in accordance with CNA information company.
This week, authorities officers met to debate “overcrowding and breaches of etiquette” throughout high-traffic vacationer spots, with Yamanashi Governor Kotaro Nagasaki proposing the development of a lightweight railway to regulate the variety of folks accessing the location.
“We want a shift from amount to high quality with regards to tourism on Mount Fuji,” Nagasaki mentioned. An area ranger known as the prospect of Mount Fuji dropping its heritage standing “devastating.”
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