奈良市、宿泊税導入先送り　新型肺炎の影響回避

　奈良市の仲川元庸市長は３１日の定例記者会見で、２０２０年度中を予定していた宿泊税の導入を先送りすると表明した。新型コロナウイルスによる肺炎の感染が拡大する中、宿泊税が観光業へのダブルパンチになるのを避ける。仲川市長は新型肺炎の流行の推移を見極めた上で、今後の導入時期を「総合的に判断する」と述べた。
　市は３月議会に宿泊税導入の条例案を提出する方針だった。観光客受け入れ体制を整備するため、ホテルなどの宿泊者から１人１泊２００円前後を徴収する方向で検討。総務省との協議や事業者への説明、システム改修などを経て２１年３月までの実施を想定していた。（2020/01/31-14:44）

The western Japan city of Nara will put off its plan to introduce the accommodation tax during fiscal 2020, to limit damage on the city's tourism industry amid the outbreak of a new coronavirus, its mayor said Friday.
   Mayor Motonobu Nakagawa told a press conference that the city will take various factors into consideration and decide when to introduce the tax after monitoring the situation concerning the virus.
   A city survey of 13 large hotels with 100 rooms or more each showed that reservations for 3,156 guests, mainly on group tours from China, had been canceled as of Thursday, according to the city.
   On Tuesday, the health ministry said that a Japanese male bus driver in Nara Prefecture has been confirmed as infected with the virus. He drove tourists from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the center of the outbreak.
   "It has been confirmed that there is obvious damage (to tourism). We need to stop for now to see how things go," Nakagawa said.