Sustainable Financing of Cultural Landscapes: Insights from Japan’s Furusato Nozei System

Cultural landscapes are facing increasing challenges in terms of sustainable financing, owing to fiscal austerity and limited public funding. This study explores tourists’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the conservation of cultural landscapes through Japan’s Furusato Nozei (Tax payment to hometown), which institutionalises ‘impure altruism’ by combining tax incentives and return gifts. We developed an integrative model that incorporates psychological pathways (motivation and destination evaluation), behavioural investments (time, expenditure, and local interaction), and socio-demographic conditions. We surveyed 500 tourists who visited Shibamata, Tokyo, and analysed the collected data using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results indicate that motivation significantly influences WTP indirectly through destination evaluation, while behavioural investments—particularly interactions with locals—positively affect WTP. Among demographic factors, age (negative) and marital status (positive) showed significant effects, whereas income, sex, and residential location did not. These findings suggest that Furusato-Nozei’s institutional design may reduce the role of financial capacity, making emotional and social factors more decisive. This study contributes theoretically by linking institutionalised impure altruism with the intention–behaviour gap, empirically by quantifying tourists’ perspectives on heritage financing, and practically by offering policy insights for sustainable cultural landscape conservation.