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Japan looking for 20 million foreign tourists annually by 2020

June 21, 2008
By Ken Worsley


A very short piece in Friday’s Nikkei tells us that the Japanese government’s tourism promotion panel has set a goal of having 20 million foreign tourists visit Japan each year by 2020. In order to explore potential methods for meeting this goal, the panel will set up a working group by the end of July.

The panel’s previously stated goal of having 10 million tourists visit Japan each year by 2010 is still posted on their website. In 2007, 8.35 million tourists visit Japan. The jump to 20 million would be a 140% increase. There are also supposed to be 60,000 new landing slots opening up for international flights at Narita and Haneda airports over the coming few years. Might more new landing slots, and perhaps runways, be on the way?

The Nikkei’s piece ends with this short paragraph:

One idea likely to be considered is making traffic signs and displays at tourist sites available in several languages, as well as employing more multilingual tour guides.

Not exactly revolutionary. Hopefully the panel itself will have some ideas better than the low bar being set here.

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Comments

4 Responses to “Japan looking for 20 million foreign tourists annually by 2020”

  1. Garrett on June 23rd, 2008 3:27 pm

    20 million would be quite a bit. Think of where that would put Japan in rankings as a visited destination.

    The “low bar,” as you call it, is hardly the sort of thing that makes people travel to a destination. How many times have yout hought to yourself, “I’ve heard Taiwan has some English steet signs, therefore I’ll go there.”

  2. Pellegrini on June 24th, 2008 10:44 pm

    I don’t know if the cost-of-living numbers apply in any way, but how does Japan, and specifically cities like Tokyo and Kyoto, rank globally in terms of what amount of cash a tourist can expect to part with on an average day (including lodging, transportation, meals and entertainment)?

  3. Ken Worsley on June 24th, 2008 10:51 pm

    Pellegrini, that’s a good question, but one that won’t have the same answer on a day-to-day basis, or based on where the travelers are coming from. There’s a huge amount of currency risk involved. US hotels and the hospitality industry in general are loving the weak dollar because it draws in droves of Europeans, but if the dollar swings back suddenly (or gradually), that will hurt those numbers.

    So long as China keeps the fixed rate currency it has now, it would be hard to see the yuan appreciate enough against the yen to make Japan a cheap choice for Chinese tourists. Even if it were allowed to float, there’s no guarantee it will rise enough to make enough of a difference, or that the currency won’t just collapse.

  4. Pellegrini on June 29th, 2008 8:30 pm

    Ken,
    That makes sense.

    Any idea which parts of the world those 60,000 landing/takeoff slots at the two metropolitan airports will be dedicated to? It seems logical that Asia is one of the bigger areas of growth at this point.

    Anything I’m missing?

    [I’m hoping that NWA’s NRT-JFK route reopens, personally.]

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