Japan anticipates tourism rebound in 2012

The number of foreign visitors to Japan, which plunged last year because of the earthquake and tsunami that struck the country last March, is returning to pre-earthquake levels. Increased demand from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong is offsetting lingering safety concerns and a relatively expensive yen. 

Japan attracted about 685,000 foreign visitors in January, down 4.1% from a year earlier, said executives from Japan’s Tourism Ministry, Japan Airlines and the Peninsula Tokyo in a conference call with journalists last week. Japan attracted 6.22 million visitors in 2011, down 28% from 2010. 

January visitation from China and Hong Kong was up about 40% from a year earlier, with China numbers buoyed in part by the Chinese New Year, which in 2011 took place in February. 

The number of visitors from the U.S., Japan’s fourth-largest source market, fell 6.2% in January. South Korea, by far Japan’s largest source market for foreign visitors, accounted for 35% fewer visits in January than a year earlier, while visits from France and Germany fell about 17%. 

South Korea visitors, who account for about a third of Japan’s foreign tourism, was particularly affected by reports that the nuclear meltdown in northeast Japan continues to pose health risks. 

As a result, the Peninsula Tokyo’s occupancy is down about 10 percentage points from a year ago to "just over 50%," while the average daily rate has fallen about 10,000 yen ($122), according to Malcolm Thompson, the hotel’s general manager. 

"Our biggest task is to figure out how to recover our numbers from the Korean market," said Shuichi Kameyama, director of the Japan Tourism Agency’s international tourism promotion. "Everything is normal in most of Japan. The [radiation] issues are exaggerated by the foreign media." 

Currency is another challenge. Relative to other currencies, the yen is about even with its value a year ago but is up about 7% in the past month. 

Still, those on the call were confident that Japan tourism would return to pre-disaster levels this year, with Kameyama predicting a "record high" number of foreign visitors for 2012. 

Japan Airlines' new nonstop routes from Tokyo to San Diego and Boston could boost U.S. visitation, according to Chen Zhuo Wen, the carrier’s assistant manager of overseas sales. 

JAL's passenger count was down 2% in January, she said. Japan’s Tourism Ministry will try to boost visits from the U.S. by targeting affluent Asian-Americans as well as niche markets such as diving enthusiasts, pop-culture junkies and gays. 

Source - travelweekly