Despite the post-pandemic travel surge, several parts of Japan continue to struggle with tourism.
According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), it was recorded that foreign visitors in Japan accounted for 68.5% lowered slightly compared to the pre-pandemic levels. South Koreans were the highest population in May, totaling 520,000, followed by 300,000 from Taiwan and 180,000 from the United States.
One of the highly visited places in the country was Tokyo. Based on the JNTO figures, there was an additional 20% increase compared to the pre-pandemic period. Other popular tourist destinations included Kyoto, Ishikawa, and Tokushima prefectures due to the availability of chartered flights and the opening of borders across other Asian countries.
Nonetheless, there has been a slow growth in other prefectures such as the Niigata prefecture. The prefectural government started a campaign to grow tourism as their official said: “Not just in winter when many foreign visitors come to ski, but we would also like to attract more visitors in summer to places like Sado Island and bring the number of foreign tourists to the pre-COVID level.”
The Japanese government is committed to creating efforts in other regions with the enhancement of international flight airports and the creation of travel programs.
