The tourism industry has continued to be plagued by the spread of the novel coronavirus as the government's Go To Travel campaign has shown no major effects after launching a month ago on July 22.
With foreign visitor numbers down 99.9% in July from a year earlier, the government's campaign aimed to stimulate domestic tourism.
The campaign has yet to generate the desired effects, however, as many people refrained from traveling during the mid-August Bon Festival season due to a resurgence of the virus.
--20% usual demand
On Aug. 15 during the Bon holiday period, the Asakusa area of Taito Ward, Tokyo, was not as lively as it usually is. As the government has excluded trips to and from Tokyo from the Go To Travel campaign, not only the scarce foreign visitors but also domestic travelers from outside the capital have been reluctant to visit.
"Our sales are about 20% of the average year," said a 77-year-old operator of a shop selling ningyo-yaki doll-shaped sweets popular in Asakusa. "Few people are buying Tokyo souvenirs."
The government pushed ahead with the promotional measure to support the struggling tourism industry amid growing concerns over the resurgence of the virus. However, the industry's participation is hardly brisk. According to the Japan Tourism Agency, only 16,703 lodging facility operators, or about 48% of the total, and 5,984 travel agencies, or about 57% of the total, registered for the Go To Travel program as of Thursday.
The distribution of coupons, worth up to 15% of travel expenses, for use at souvenir shops and tourist facilities, was planned to start in early September. During a press conference on Friday, however, Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Atsumi Gamo said that its implementation is expected to be delayed.
He added that, in principle, the government plans to apply the discount under the Go To Travel campaign to tour packages and other travel products through Jan. 31.
As many people refrained from going out during the Bon holiday season in which travel demand is usually high, the number of airline and railway passengers fell by about 70% from a year earlier.
According to a survey conducted by au mobile phone brand operator KDDI Corp., the number of visitors to 23 major tourist spots nationwide on Aug. 15 dropped at 19 spots from the average on weekends and holidays in August last year. For Asakusa, the figure fell by 35.8%. Many major travel agencies also saw their sales decline to 20% to 30% of the previous year's.
--Affecting other sectors
The pandemic has also had a serious impact on other businesses that had received benefits from an increase in the number of foreign visitors to Japan in recent years. In late July, electronics retailer Laox Co. announced it will close 12 of its 24 stores in Japan and withdraw from the Kyushu and Okinawa regions. In the chartered bus sector, 81 companies reported business suspensions or closures during the period between February and July.
Spending by foreign visitors to Japan is a quarter of the total spending by domestic travelers, but the amount by foreign visitors per trip is generally high. In light of this, tourist areas had made efforts to attract more foreign travelers. In 2019, travel spending by a single foreign visitor was 158,531 yen per trip, compared with 55,054 yen for Japanese travelers, excluding day trips. The government set a target of about 8 trillion yen in spending by foreign visitors in 2020, but most of that target won't be achieved.
--Long-term hopes remain
Expectations remain high, however, that foreign visitors will return to Japan in the long run after the pandemic is brought under control. The Development Bank of Japan and other entities conducted a survey in June in which 6,266 foreign nationals who had traveled overseas were asked where they want to go after the pandemic is over. Among respondents living in Asia, Japan ranked first at 56%, ahead of South Korea at 30%. Among respondents living in Europe, North America and Australia, Japan came second at 24%, behind the United States at 28%.
The government had set a goal of increasing the number of foreign visitors to Japan to 40 million in 2020, but this is impossible to attain. The government does not intend to lower its goals, however.
The Japan National Tourism Organization is continuing to disseminate information to other countries on Japan's infection situation and virus countermeasures. Meanwhile, it is seeking opportunities to promote Japan as a tourist destination as it awaits a reversal of the current situation.
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