Tourism: “It’s as if the destination Japan was on sale of 30%”

Japan attracted a record number of foreign visitors last year, attracted in particular by the weakening of the yen: an influx encouraged by authorities keen to stimulate a sluggish economy, but at the risk of intensifying congestion in cities like Kyoto . The archipelago recorded 36.8 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2024, far surpassing the record of around 32 million set in 2019, the National Tourism Organization announced on Wednesday.

Japan is returning to its dynamics before the Covid pandemic. The number of foreign visitors increased fivefold between 2012 and 2020, before coronavirus restrictions were put in place, then swelled again after they ended. This is partly the result of proactive policies by the Japanese government, aimed at promoting the majestic landscapes of Mount Fuji, the traditional shrines and sushi restaurants as well as the culture of video games and manga associated with “Cool Japan”.

But this attractiveness can also be explained by the weakening of the yen, which has plunged against the dollar for three years, sliding last summer to its lowest level since 1986. Enough to make the destination cheaper by boosting the power of visitor purchase. Japan was on the “list” of many travelers, but the weakness of the yen is an additional argument, believes Naomi Mano, president of the hotel and events firm Luxurique.

“It’s the best time (to come), it’s as if the destination Japan was on sale of 30%, it becomes very cheap for many people,” she told AFP. The Japanese government has set itself an ambitious goal: to reach 60 million foreign tourists per year by 2030, a doubling in less than a decade.

Certainly the authorities are aiming for a better distribution of tourism across the archipelago and during the year, while visitors en masse favor certain periods (such as the cherry blossom season) and a handful of sites deemed unmissable such as Kyoto. Like Venice and Barcelona, ​​the former Japanese imperial capital, renowned for its temples and traditional alleys frequented by geishas in kimonos, is now hit by overtourism.

In addition to the traffic congestion, residents deplore the incivility of tourists venturing into private alleys and bothering the geishas to feed their social networks with photos. Anxious to stem the phenomenon and finance the adaptation of its infrastructure, the municipality of Kyoto announced on Tuesday that it would massively increase its tourist tax, from 2026, in order to achieve “sustainable tourism”.

From Tokyo to Osaka, major cities already impose tourist taxes of a few hundred yen on tourists. In Kyoto, the new tax, graduated according to the price of accommodation, could rise up to 10,000 yen (62 euros) per person per night. Another emblematic measure in Japan: a daily quota of people applies in summer to take the most popular path to climb Mount Fuji, accompanied by an access fee of around 12 euros (2,000 yen).

Consequence of the record influx of tourists: hotel prices in the busiest cities are soaring, to the point of becoming too expensive for Japanese companies seeking to accommodate their employees during business trips within the country . The boss of an IT company, Yoshiki Kojima, told AFP that his employees going to Tokyo for a seminar stay in a “capsule hotel”, with spaces no larger than the size of a bed. , due to lack of affordable alternative.

While Japan’s economic growth remains sluggish, penalized by sluggish domestic consumption, tourism is seen as a crucial driver of activity. It is the country’s second largest source of revenue, after automobile exports. The archipelago, with its 124 million inhabitants, still receives far fewer tourists than the world’s leading destination, France, which has 68 million inhabitants and welcomed 100 million visitors in 2023.

The impression of overtourism is explained by “a concentration of attendance in specific cities”, insists Ms. Mano. The number of foreign visitors to Tokyo has doubled since 2019, and increased 1.5 times in Osaka. For Ms Mano, the government must ensure the promotion of other regions and “facilitate access”, with more information… and activities in rural regions, territories that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba rightly calls to “revitalize”.

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