ANALYSIS ON CAPACITY OF CLIMBER'S NUMBER TO MT. FUJI AND ITS FEASIBILITY BY INTRODUCING CLIMBING FEE

Abstract

 Although Mt. Fuji was selected as the world cultural heritage site in 2013, it is pointed out that the increase of climbers is over its capacity. In this study, we estimated the upper limit of the number of climbers to Mt. Fuji from the viewpoints of the treatment of human waste and the climbers' safety in each of the four routes of Mt. Fuji. In some routes, the present numbers exceed their capacity. Then, we assessed the value of the climbing fee in order to keep the number of climbers to the estimated capacity by using the zonal travel cost method. The results show that the necessary fee is 0 to 3,000 yen for each climber if the averaged number of climbers for summer season does not exceed the capacity. On the other hand, this value of climbing fee is not sufficient in peak periods. The necessary fee to reduce the number in peak periods is estimated to be 2,500 to 8,000 yen for each climber.