Since the country's admission restrictions relating to the coronavirus have been loosened, Japan has set its goals on dramatically rising tourist numbers as well as rising visitor expenditure.
According to a report in Kyodo News, the authorities of the nation intend to expand overnight stays in rural Japan by 10% by 2025. The new tourism strategy also sets spending targets for tourists, to achieve $1,500 per person over the following two years. That is a 25% increase from 2019, the year before the COVID-19 epidemic erupted and drastically altered global tourism.
Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, has also set an annual tourist spending goal of 5 trillion yen, up from the 4.8 trillion yen that tourists spent in 2019.
The government's initiatives to restore tourism to pre-pandemic levels include the new tourist strategy and the objectives outlined in it.
Before the coronavirus epidemic in 2019, a record 31.8 million visitors traveled to Japan. Once COVID-19 became a global issue, those numbers dramatically decreased, reaching just 4.12 million in 2020 and 250,000 in 2021.
The new tourist objectives' specifics are revealed as the government prepares for a rise in demand for international air travel. A few significant events, including Expo 2025, will also take place in Japan in 2025.
The tourism strategy is more comprehensive than merely monetary targets and visitor growth. According to Kyodo News, the plan also includes tactics to combat "tourism pollution" by luring high-end travelers and enticing tourists to venture outside of urban areas.
The report also includes goals for sustainable tourism at a time when ethical behavior is more critical than ever. According to the specifics, there should be 100 locations participating in sustainability initiatives nationwide by January, up from just 13 now.
The sustainability objectives call on towns to adhere to certain standards and receive certification for their efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
As TravelPulse noted at the time, Japan reintroduced visa-free travel from dozens of nations worldwide in mid-October 2022. Additionally, it removed the daily restriction on tourist arrivals, making it simpler for travelers to arrange their own trips to the nation without a required reservation through an authorized travel agency or tour operator.
The decision was made following the implementation of some of the harshest border controls for COVID in the world for more than two years.
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