Number of tourists visiting Japan jumps for second straight month

THE number of foreign visitors to Japan rebounded again in November, the first full month after borders reopened last month, fuelling hopes for a broader travel recovery next year.

Roughly 934,500 overseas travellers visited last month, preliminary figures released by the Japan National Tourism Organization showed on Wednesday (Dec 21). That’s up 87 per cent from the prior month, when entry restrictions were eased on Oct 11. Japan saw just 17,766 visitors at the start of 2022, in January.

The numbers are still well below the 2.6 million-plus people who came, on average, each month during the peak of a tourism boom in 2019. Even so, the rapid recovery in visitor numbers suggest that the country’s retailers and restaurants will finally see some relief next year after the steep drop in business during the pandemic. The big question is whether that can help make up for weakening economic activity.

While tourists might be returning, Japan’s transport and hospitality industries are struggling to find enough staff to cope with the rebound in demand. More than 60 per cent of inns and hotels are understaffed, for both full- and part-time workers, according to a September survey by Teikoku Databank.

A weaker yen compared with pre-pandemic levels, along with tamer inflation, has helped to drive travel to Japan, where everything from hotels and meals, to travel and shopping, are cheaper for tourists. Asked whether a slightly stronger currency, fuelled by the Bank of Japan’s decision this week to tweak yield-curve controls, would have an impact on current visitor trends, SBI Securities analyst Shun Tanaka said that won’t be a problem at all.

“Even if the yen is a bit stronger, there’s still a sense that things are cheaper here,” Tanaka said. “This won’t be a barrier to a recovery to pre-pandemic levels.”

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Other risks to global travel include rising energy, goods and other input costs, as well as a labour shortage and skills gap, which put pressure on household budgets and discretionary spending on travel, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a November report. As a result, a full recovery for international tourism won’t happen until 2025 or later, according to the group.

In Japan, about 21 million people are expected to travel domestically during the holiday season from Dec 23 to Jan 3, a 72 per cent recovery compared with 2019, according to a survey by travel agency JTB Corp. While broader travel is recovering, there may also be some impact from rising Covid cases and inflation, the agency said. BLOOOMBERG