Japan as a tourist destination
Japan's newly formed Tourism Agency, whose formation was announced Oct. 1, will have a lot of work to do. Even with the variety of appealing and fascinating sites nationwide, establishing a tourist infrastructure is no easy task. Most other countries in Asia have long since built a network for tourism, while Japan seems to have just gotten started.
According to the World Tourism Organization, Japan barely ranks on the tourism scale, with a comparatively low 7 million visitors in 2006. That's nearly half of Thailand's and Hong Kong's total and even further behind China's pre-Olympic 33 million annual visitors. It will take a long time before Japan approaches France's highest ranking for visitors — 80 million — and the United States' largest take in tourist revenue — $85 billion.
To get there, Japan will need to focus on language, with more tourist guides, multilingual menus, English-speaking front desk staff, discount plans and user-friendly Web sites. It was only during the 2002 World Cup that even big cities like Tokyo started to put up signs in English, Chinese and Korean in train stations and at popular areas. The huge number of historical monuments, museums and sites of special interest throughout Japan will need a more complete multilingual upgrade.
Japan must also consider how to present itself. In a recent poll, foreign visitors cited shopping as the main reason to visit Japan, but surely the country does not want to become just another Hong Kong. Shopping tours will not benefit needy rural communities and outlying areas. With over a dozen World Heritage sites and countless historical and cultural treasures, the Tourism Agency needs to ensure a balanced, broader view of Japan.
The Japanese will have to learn to accommodate themselves to the growing influx of different kinds of people. More meaningful exchanges are needed than just cash and credit card numbers. We hope that since Japan is fourth in total outbound tourists, most people will get a sense of accommodation. Tourism is a powerful force that has irrevocably changed many countries. Whatever steps are taken for tourists, they should bring not only economic benefits but also intercultural understanding.
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Comments
It will be a very sad day when Japan turns into another fully westernised country flooded with bulk numbers of tourists. Thoughtful people should visit Japan right now, before Japans natural attractions and pure culture are steralised for mass invasion. I have seen vast changes in Japan in my 25 years of creating special tours to Japan for discerning travellers. Toursgallery will always take our guests to areas that have not been branded as official tourist attractions, so as to see the uncontaminated Japan. I take 9 small groups every year to Japan and show them attractions far from the common sights that are easy to get to by independent travellers.
As for Japans new World Heritage listed attractions .. they were far better before the listing. Now the crowds are the same as at Tokyo Disneyland and their tranquil beauty is being eroded by huge bus loads of tourists who could not care less about what they are visiting, but go simply because they have been told that this is an official tourist attraction. If people wait till western style hotels and English signs are everywhere, Japan will look no different to anywhere else in Asia. Go visit Japan now before it loses its old world charm and character. Ken
The article you posted yesterday about some accommodation owners not being willing to receive foreign guests for fear of not being able to serve them properly shows how much work Japan's tourism industry has ahead of itself to broaden the and deepen the image of the country abroad. For decades the foreign visitors were sent along the same path of Tokyo - Nikko - Hakone - Kyoto and that was very much where western style accommodation is available and some Ryokan in Kyoto who are used to deal with foreign visitors.
Today, that is no longer enough of a product to attract a large number of visitors and distribute their visits across more areas of the country. The other difference is that today, contrary to the past, when most visitors were Americans and Europeans, a larger number of visitors are now from Asian countries and have different expectations and needs.
With the appropriate outreach by Japanese tourism authorities to foreign experts who understand Japan from an outsiders perspective and can give valuable advice the problems can be tackled and eventually solved.
As you state, Japan has some great tourism assets in terms of culture, history, scenery etc. that can be positioned and marketed successfully abroad especially by using the latest web based tools that are available to reach a global audience effectively and efficiently.
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