News reports recently announced that the government of Japan intends to attract approximately 40 million tourists by the year 2020. This will be just in time for the Tokyo Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games that will be hosted by Japan during the same year. Along with this objective, the government of Japan likewise aims to capture at least eight trillion yen of foreign tourist spendings for the year 2020.
Unfortunately, the data gathered by the Japan Tourism Agency show a significant decrease in the growth of Japan’s tourist spendings and consumptions for the period between January to March of this year amounting to only 2.6 percent when compared to the previous year’s growth which was pegged at 7.2 percent. In total, the amount spent by foreign tourists according to the latest reports reached 1.12 trillion yen which is still way behind the target of eight trillion yen for the fiscal year 2020. The decrease in growth of tourist spending is thought to have been caused by the restrictions imposed by the Chinese government on resale of products acquired overseas. This is due in large part to the fact that among the foreign visitors, Chinese tourists are seen to have spent the most at 402.1 billion yen followed by nationals from Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.
At present, the Japanese government appears to be close to its primary goal of attracting 40 million foreign tourists as around 31,626,900 visitors were said to have visited the country for the fiscal year 2018 according to the estimates by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). This shows a slow and steady increase of 6.2 percent in the number of tourists in Japan as compared to those during the previous year according to the relevant data from the JNTO. While the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games will surely be able to do its part of attracting more foreign visitors, Japan is still around eight million short of its initial target. With only less than a year left, effective measures are expected to be implemented by the Japanese government in order to achieve its objective by the year 2020.
Reference:
Inbound Tourism Consumption Growth Slows in Japan
Foreign visitors to Japan top 30 mil. in FY 2018
