Weaker yen boosts tourism to Japan

06 May 2013  2033 | World Travel News

TOKYO - Japan expects to hit a new tourism record in 2013. These are some good news for Japan tourism industry which was until now still suffering from the aftermath of the 2011-earthquake which provoked a giant tsunami and the terrible Fukushima nuclear accident. The major factor to Japan’s sudden return is the weakening yen, following the election of Shinzo Abe as Japan’s new Prime Minister. Mr Abe never made a mystery of letting the Yen sliding to boost the economy.

Japan’s currency has so far depreciated by almost 20% versus the US dollar since mid-November, when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began a campaign to talk down the value of the exchange rate. It has so far been the biggest drop in the yen value since 1992. The exchange rate to the dollar is now likely to reach the 100 yen mark, a number not seen since 2009. Analysts expect the yen to depreciate by another 10% to reach 110 Yen for one dollar by 2014.

While Japanese exports are becoming again cheaper, local tourism is also now getting the benefit of the slide. First from the domestic market which starts to look again at travelling within Japan due to soaring costs for overseas holidays; secondly from outbound markets-especially out of Asia- who are rushing to Japan. The Bangkok post quoted  has turned Japan’s annual Golden Week, a string of springtime holidays, into a boon for domestic tourism.

The traditional May holiday was expected to draw over 22.2 million Japanese domestic travellers, an absolute record since 1969! Tokyo Disneyland announced for example to expect a record number of visitors this year at 27.7 million annual visitors compared to 27.5 million a year earlier. Foreigners make up about 3 percent of the resort’s customers.

Overseas tourists to Japan rose also to new heights. In March, Japan recorded 857,000 overseas travellers, representing a jump by 26% from a year earlier. This is the second highest tourism result on record, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Travellers from Southeast Asia, from Korea and China are expected to increase sharply as their respective currencies have risen on average by over 20% versus the Japanese yen.

Thailand was for example expected to have generated five times more travellers during the Golden Week. In January and February, total number of Thai travellers was already up by 31% over 2013. Talking to the Bangkok Post, Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents in Bangkok, predicted the number of Thai tourists to Japan would increase by 15% this year. “Japan has always been a popular destination for Thai people, but the strong baht made it even more attractive,” Sisdivachr indicated to the Bangkok Post.

Japanese budget airlines are another element to foster tourism. And finally, the Shinzo Abe government is seriously looking at relaxing entry conditions to Japan for Southeast Asian travellers. Japan indicated to be ready to examine a possible relaxation of visa requirements to encourage more tourists from Southeast Asia to visit Japan.

Malaysia and Thailand are likely to be granted waiving visa facilities while the Philippines and Vietnam could be granted multiple-entry visas. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated earlier that he targets a total of 25 million foreign visitors by 2020, a number to be compared to 8.37 million in 2012, according to statistics published by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). The achievement was close to the record of 8.61 million foreign travellers of 2010. It represented an increase of 34.6% over 2011, when international tourist arrivals dropped to 6.22 million. In 2013, the government expects to reach the 10 million visitors target.

 

Sourced: TravelDailyNews

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