Brainstorm to attract more tourists to Japan

We hope the government and the private sector will make concerted efforts to convey to the world the appeal of Japan as a tourist destination.

For the first time in five years, the government has developed a new master plan to boost the nation's tourism. The new Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Plan contains various policy targets to be achieved over five years from fiscal 2012.

The number of foreign visitors to Japan--both tourists and businesspeople--reached a record 8.61 million in 2010, but the number plummeted to 6.22 million in 2011 due to the Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The numbers are alarming--the 2010 figure only ranked 30th in the world. In Asia, Japan lags far behind China, which recorded 55.66 million tourists in 2010, the third-largest number in the world. Japan also trails such countries as Singapore and South Korea.

We believe attracting more tourists from Asia and other developing areas would contribute to reinvigorating local cities, towns and villages and help the nation rebuild from the March 11, 2011, disaster.

The new plan sets a goal of increasing the number of foreign visitors to Japan to 18 million by 2016, more than twice the number seen in 2010. It also expects peoples' annual spending while traveling within the country--including Japanese travelers--to grow from 25 trillion yen to 30 trillion yen. However, both goals are not easy to achieve.

Source - yomiuri.co.jp