Japan's Inbound Tourism

1. Japan’s Inbound Tourism Saki Kitai

2. Background info
• Saki Kitai (21)
• Odawara Station Odakyu Sightseeing Service Centre
- Launched in April, 2010 working since September 2012
- Staff speaks English/Chinese/Korean/German
- 300 - 400 visitors a day

3. What is Tourism?
Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon
which entails the movement of people to countries or
places outside their usual environment for personal or
business/professional purposes.
These people are called visitors (which may be either
tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and
tourism has to do with their activities, some of which
imply tourism expenditure.
- World Tourism Organization
http://media.unwto.org/en/content/understanding-tourism-basic-glossary

4. Forms of Tourism
In 1994, the United Nations identified three forms of
tourism in its Recommendations on Tourism Statistics:
• Domestic tourism, involving residents of the given
country traveling only within this country
• Inbound tourism, involving non-residents traveling in
the given country
• Outbound tourism, involving residents traveling in
another country

5. Definition of Tourists (Visitors)
World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people
"traveling to and staying in places outside their usual
environment for not more than one consecutive year for
leisure, business and other purposes”
In 1936, the League of Nations (国際連盟)
defined a foreign tourist as
"someone traveling abroad for
at least twenty-four hours”

6. Brief history of Japan’s inbound tourism
• 1964 - “Japan National Tourism Organization”(日本政府観光局) was launched
• 2003 - “Visit Japan Campaign” (Yokoso! JAPAN) was launched
• 2008 - “Japan Tourism Agency”(観光庁) was set up as an extra-ministerial bureau
of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism(国土交通省)
• 2009 - PM Hatoyama positioned tourism as a major economic growth area
(Beginning of tourism nation-building)
• 2012 - a New “Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Plan” was approved by the
cabinet
• 2013 - Reached the goal of 10 million foreign visitors
- Abe’s ”Japan Revitalisation Strategy-Japan is Back-“ 20million tourists by 2020
• 2014 “Action Program toward the Realization of Japan as a Tourism-Oriented
Country” was released

7. Travel and Leisure (sell over a million copies worldwide)
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/07/travel/world-best-cities/

8. How attractive Japan is to the world

9. How attractive Japan is in Asia

10. Who visits Japan? (2013)
http://www.japanmacroadvisors.com/public/uploads/ckImages/files/Foreign%20visitors%20to%20Japan%20doubled%20in%20the%20last%20decade.pdf

11. How Tourism industry is a big income for a nation
Globally - Tourism and travel account for about 9.5 percent of GDP
Japan - only 2.2 percent as of this year
Plenty of room for growth!
Spending by tourists in Japan
1.6 trillion yen (2014)
Expected to exceed 4 trillion yen ($32.4 billion) by 2020
- Ichiro Takahashi, a Japan Tourism Agency official
http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/06/18/japans-tourism-boom-lifts-economy-but-brings-headaches

12. “2014 Action Program” toward the Realization of
Japan as a Tourism-Oriented Country
June 2014 "Ministerial Council on the Promotion of Japan as a
Tourism-Oriented Country” was held and “2014 Action Program” was
released
• Promoting tourism with an eye to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and
Paralympics
• Implementing measures to drastically expand inbound tourism.
• Facilitating travel to Japan through such measures as relaxing visa
requirements
• Developing world-class tourist regions
• Creating an environment friendly to foreign travellers
• Attracting business travellers by promoting Japan as a venue for
international meetings, incentive travel, conferences, and events
(MICE hosting).
http://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/a03703/ http://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/en/about/message.html

14. Why Tourism matter?

15. Points to consider as a Tourism Nation
More staffs speak English/Chinese
ATM/Free Wifi/Visa system
above all this…
Are Japanese local people ready for this?
I felt lost researching this topic…
More diverse mind set is necessary!

16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLt5qSm9U80

18. Research Goal and Methodology
Becoming a bridge between Local Japanese and Visitors
Creating traveling media of people visiting Japan for
Japanese local people
( Interviewing visitors -> Write articles in EN/JA )

19. Plan for my Graduation Project
• Further research on Japanese inbound tourism history/
development
• Learn more about interview methodology
• Start interviewing visitors in Japan/Japanese locals
• Creating website