After more than two years of isolation, Japan reopens to all international travellers today however, despite hopes for a tourism boom, overseas visitors will encounter a decimated hospitality sector with shuttered shops and a shortage of workers as the nation anticipates an influx of eager tourists.
Japan’s major carriers All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines have increased flights in response to expected higher demand.
“The impact incoming visitors have on the Japanese economy is said to be some 5 trillion yen (AUD$54.5 billion), so we have great hopes about what we can expect,” ANA Chief Executive Shinichi Inoue recently told reporters.
Flag carrier Japan Airlines has seen inbound bookings triple since the reopening announcement, President Yuji Akasaka said, according to the Nikkei newspaper.
Even so, international travel demand won’t fully recover until around 2025, he added.
A yen for tourism
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is counting on tourism to invigorate the economy and reap some benefits from the yen’s slide to a 24-year low.
The yen has weakened sharply against the US dollar, giving some visitors much stronger buying power and making Japan almost irresistible to bargain-hunting travellers.
Around 500,000 visitors have travelled to Japan in 2022, compared to 31.8 million tourists in 2019.
Mr Kishida said Japan aims to attract 5 trillion yen (AUD$54.5 billion) in annual tourist spending, but that goal may be too ambitious with hotel employment slumping by 22 per cent between 2019 and 2021, according to government data.
Spending from overseas visitors will reach only 2.1 trillion yen by 2023 and won’t exceed pre-COVID levels until 2025, Nomura Research Institute economist Takahide Kiuchi reported.
Hospitality sector hit hard
Almost 73 per cent of hotels nationwide said they were short of regular workers in August, up from about 27 per cent a year earlier, according to market research firm Teikoku Databank.
Many service workers found better working conditions and wages in other fields over the past two years, so luring them back may be difficult, said a tourism company consultant.
“The hospitality industry is very infamous for low wages, so if the government values tourism as a key industry, financial support or subsidies are probably needed,” he added.
Japan still strongly encourages people to wear masks indoors and refrain from loud talking. The Cabinet also approved changing hotel regulations to refuse guests who do not obey infection controls during an outbreak.
For more info, visit japan.travel
Via AAP
