Hiroshima, Japan is working towards longer stays among European travellers by promoting the destination’s “diversity of peace”, which extends beyond its renowned Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to cover harmonious experiences in sports, the great outdoors, and food.
Yamabe Shotaro, chief producer and executive director, Hiroshima Tourism Association (HIT), said France, Germany, and the UK have been the prefecture’s top-performing European source markets, but there remains huge potential to grow the markets’ average length of stay because many travellers are still unfamiliar with the depth of Hiroshima’s tourism offerings.
He said: “Travellers would find peace in exploring our Seto islands and in discovering our delicious food, like okonomiyaki (savoury pancakes) and freshly-harvested seafood. Hiroshima is well known for its baseball and soccer teams, and in the city, sports fans can enjoy a live match in peace and harmony, regardless of who wins.”
According to HIT data, the UK contributes the biggest share of European arrivals, with 62,890 in 2023; in 2019 the volume was 71,760. Arrivals from France numbered 53,980 in 2023, inching closer to 2019’s 58,790. Arrivals from Germany is now 110 per cent over 2019’s 44,380 footfalls.
However, HIT is particularly keen on courting the French, as they have the ability to “influence” travel trends among other European segments, observed Yamabe.
With greater understanding of Hiroshima’s diversity of peaceful tourism offerings, HIT hopes to extend the average length of stay among Europeans from 1.3 days now to at least two or three full days in the near future.
