HAKUBA, Nagano -- Luxury accommodations are being developed in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture, which has gained popularity domestically and internationally as a ski resort.
The people involved aim to attract affluent guests who have a strong appetite for consumption amid an increasing number of foreign tourists.
There are also many privately owned minshuku guesthouses and lodges in Hakuba. Given this, the local government has high expectations for the developments to be a new boost to the local economy.
Marriott International, Inc., a major U.S. hotel chain, opened Courtyard by Marriott Hakuba on Dec. 22 as the first hotel funded by a foreign company in the area, targeting wealthy foreigners.
According to the Tourism Commission of Hakuba Village, visitors from the United States, Europe and Australia stay for about a week on average. The hotel has 72 rooms. This includes 27 rooms with a hot spring bathroom that are suitable for long stays, and 14 rooms whose areas are over 40 square meters so that lodgers can relax with families. The accommodation fees for such rooms are estimated to be in the 20,000 yen to 30,000 yen range per night for two people.
In spring this year, a glamping facility will open in the area. Named Field Suite Hakuba, visitors will be able to enjoy camping with services similar to those of hotels. Happo-one Kaihatsu Co. in the area will operate the facility, and Snow Peak Inc., an outdoor gear manufacturer in Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture, will supervise it.
The facility provides eight tents to guests on the highlands, each of which has a bedroom of over 50 square meters. The highlands are located at an altitude of 1,200 meters, where guests can view the spectacular scenery of the Hakuba mountains.
Visitors can also enjoy hiking in the forest with a guide in the daytime, and eat a course menu for dinner under the stars at night. Accommodation costs about 80,000 yen per person per night and includes four meals. "We want foreign tourists to experience hospitality in an extraordinary atmosphere and rich nature," said Soichiro Yamaguchi, head of the mountain resort department of Happo-one Kaihatsu.
Such luxury accommodations have been welcomed with high hopes in Hakuba.
Lodges opened in the area one after another in the 1980s. After the bubble economy burst, most accommodations shifted their business strategy to low-priced offerings, and there have been almost no luxurious accommodations for the wealthy since then.
Overnight foreign visitors to the village have increased from 20,000 in 2005 to over 110,000 in 2017. Visitors from Australia account for 40 percent of the total -- the highest percentage. These Australians tend to have high-end preferences and book hotels, even when minshuku guesthouses and lodges have enough vacancies for them. Recently, the number of those accommodations have been decreasing as their owners get older and the lack of successors worsens.
Yojiro Fukushima, director of the Tourism Commission of Hakuba Village, said: "Now is the turning point to get out of the feeling of being trapped, as foreign visitors have been increasing recently. We will give priority to improving Hakuba's landscape to make it easier for luxury hotels to expand their businesses more than ever here."
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