AS Japan attracted a record 13.4 million foreign travellers in 2014, up an impressive 30 per cent from the previous year, return visitors are increasingly showing a preference for new experiences outside the traditional destinations of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto – a trend the Japanese travel trade is keen to encourage.
“First-time visitors still tend to go to the major tourist spots, but we are finding that more and more people want to go to rural areas and to see and experience unique things,” said Yoko Ogata, international travel division head of Nippon Travel Agency.
“Our clients from other parts of East Asia like to take short weekend trips to Hokkaido or Kyushu,” she added. “But repeat visitors want to go to different places, such as Takayama, Kanazawa, Miyajima or Beppu.”
Ogata believes that travellers’ focus has, until now, been on the major famous destinations but as Japan becomes more accessible, affordable and easy to navigate, demand for more off-the-beaten-track places will increase.
At present, more than 60 per cent of visitors take the “golden route” that links Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. That can put excessive pressure on hotels and transport, with some potential visitors cancelling their plans due to a shortage of accommodation.
The Japan Tourism Agency is drawing up plans to help local authorities create tourist routes in relatively unexploited parts of the country to attract repeat visitors.
The national government is putting aside 500 million yen (US$4.2 million) to promote alternative destinations as it works towards its target of 20 million visitors in 2020.
Taiwan accounted for the largest proportion of visitors with 2.8 million arrivals in 2014, an increase of 28 per cent from 2013. Some 2.8 million South Koreans paid Japan a visit, up 12 per cent, while the number of Chinese arrivals soared 83 per cent to 2.4 million.
Seven out of the top 10 nationalities who visited Japan last year were from Asia, with Thailand sixth on the list and Malaysia eighth. Similarly, the number of visitors from the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam all hit record highs.
