Why Can't Japan Attract More Visitors?

[Ed Wetschler]

Says here it's not the marketers' mistakes but the brand's mistakes: http://nyti.ms/9xAleB

[Honor]

That's a good question Ed and it's one of the reasons I started my website about Tokyo. As a UK citizen having lived here for 9 years I love this city and wish more people would see the value in visiting here. I know one of my goals in starting the site was to try and make this country/city more accessible as my friends often expressed concerns at their ability to navigate and cope with Japanese... even friends who'd traveled to a number of different places in the world expressed the same concerns.

Add to that the strong yen over the past year and the drop in other currencies it becomes a less attractive option simply on a financial level.

When you look at the total base of tourists though that visit Japan, around 50% of all tourists are Korean. The numbers from China are also increasing significantly. I believe only around 5 - 10% of tourism to Japan comes from Europe and the USA - the majority comes from Asia and Australia. So it depends which visitors your title is referring to... just wondering : )

[Tony Tien Huynh]

Dear Honor,

I'm looking for travel agents in Japan to co-operate on online hotel booking and package tours in Japan. Can you help me?

Tony
[e-mail]
Thanks.

[Ed Wetschler]

Nine years in Japan? I'm jealous. If I remember correctly, the Japanese tourism officials were worrying about foreign tourism in general, rather than visitors from any particular place. About that yen: It is indeed a disincentive, although you and I know that one can visit Japan and, contrary to public opinion, have a good time without going broke.

Honor said:

That's a good question Ed and it's one of the reasons I started my website about Tokyo. As a UK citizen having lived here for 9 years I love this city and wish more people would see the value in visiting here. I know one of my goals in starting the site was to try and make this country/city more accessible as my friends often expressed concerns at their ability to navigate and cope with Japanese... even friends who'd traveled to a number of different places in the world expressed the same concerns.

Add to that the strong yen over the past year and the drop in other currencies it becomes a less attractive option simply on a financial level.

When you look at the total base of tourists though that visit Japan, around 50% of all tourists are Korean. The numbers from China are also increasing significantly. I believe only around 5 - 10% of tourism to Japan comes from Europe and the USA - the majority comes from Asia and Australia. So it depends which visitors your title is referring to... just wondering : )

[Robert Haru Fisher]

There are plenty of reasons, but two stand out in my opinion: (1) they seem to be unable to plan far ahead where tourism  or tourism promotion is concerned. I tried to get meetings there for the Society of American Travel Writers, either the national convention or one of the councils (freelance, for instance). I was told the government could not plan for expenditures more than about 18 months ahead, or one fiscal year at a time, take your pick. (2) they have a good domestic tourism base, with millions of Japanese visiting their own country, starting with loads of school kids, then going up through company-planned vacations, all in a well-run, easily utilized tourism industry operating at all levels throughout the country. I often thought the Japanese tourism industry was so contented that it didn't really want or need much foreign tourism, except as an adjunct to its relatively weak diplomatic endeavours. Summing up, I would have to say, they really don't appear to have much motivation to try harder.

[Travel Rob]

I went in March and visited  during the earthquake.My son is studying in Tokyo. I found that Japan was still a reasonably

priced destination, but one needs to do  some planning.Most guide books are really missing a lot of budget tips 

People are spending a lot more than they need to.With the bad economy, ,budget travel is the growing market and Japan

has not done a good job marketing themselves as a budget destination .Now Japan was attracting a lot of Chinese people

for shopping trips,so that was beginning to turn things around in attracting more visitors.I think for awhile at least after the quake,Japan will really have a hard time attracting visitors

Some online sources are really doing a great job for budget travelers.Bento.com, a restaurant review site,is really useful and so are the accomodation sites Booking.com and Agoda. Hopefully Japan will start attracting visitors again and advertise their free or low cost attractions.