JAPANESE TOURISM AS A NEW GROWTH DRIVER
It’s been more than 20 years since I last went to Japan. I had been meaning to return several times, especially after the Japanese government waived the visa requirement for Thai tourists, but somehow I never managed to go.
Recently, however, I had a chance to visit Tokyo again. It is still one of the cleanest cities in the world, crowded with people in a hurry to go somewhere. And, just like before, hardly anyone speaks English. A notable difference this time is that there are a lot more Thai tourists.
Compared to Thailand, tourism has played a relatively minor role in Japan, both in terms of contribution to gross domestic product and employment. But things have been changing recently.
The Japanese government has been putting much more effort into promoting tourism as part of a strategy to improve economic growth.
Enthusiasm for tourism in Japan goes back only to 2003, when then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced an initiative to turn Japan into a tourismbased country. The effort intensified after Tokyo won the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has set a goal for Japan to draw 20 million foreign tourists a year by 2020. There are plans to capitalise on the Olympics to promote tourism beyond major cities and make other parts of the country attractive destinations after the Games are over.
Relaxing visa requirements and streamlining entry and exit procedures for more countries have proved successful in boosting visitor numbers to Japan. Since the relaxation of the visa requirement in July 2013 for Thailand, for example, the number of Thai tourists jumped 74% from the year before and rose another 45% to 657,570 in 2014.
Thailand is now the sixth largest source of tourists to Japan — after Taiwan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and the United States. The Japanese like Thailand in return. About 1.27 million Japanese tourists visited Thailand in 2014, the fourth largest market after China, Malaysia and Russia.
The total number of foreign tourists visiting Japan exceeded 10 million for the first time in 2013. And from January to September this year, arrivals already exceeded the figure for all of 2014, reaching 14.5 million or a jump of almost 50% from the same period last year. At this rate, Japan will likely achieve its target of 20 million annual arrivals well before 2020.
Transforming Japan into a top tourism destination is probably among the more promising economic policies announced by the Abe government. There are many reasons to be optimistic about this sector. One is that tourism is a quick and relatively cheap way of gaining foreign currency. The industry itself is expanding rapidly due to rising incomes, increasing leisure time, and more affordable airline services.
Tourism is also one of the sectors most responsive to government policy, benefiting substantially from the relaxation of visa requirements, development of transport infrastructure and promotional campaigns.
However, Japan still has a long way to go to become a top destination. Last year it ranked seventh in Asia in arrivals, behind China (1), Hong Kong (2) and Macau (5), emerging markets such as Malaysia (3) and Thailand (4), as well as South Korea (6) which is not especially well known for its tourist attractions.
Still, I think the future is bright for Japan. Given that serious promotion began only a decade ago, there is still a lot of room for growth. After all, Japan is one of the safest countries in the world with many ancient temples, hot-spring spas, cute products, interesting culture and beautiful scenery in every season, so it should not be too difficult to rise higher in the international tourism ranking.
Compared to Japan, Thailand still receives far more foreign tourists — 24.8 million last year against 13.4 million in Japan. However, we’ve seen a shift recently. While Japan moved up one place, Thailand slipped down two places to fourth in Asia, overtaken by Malaysia and Hong Kong.
The August bombing at the Erawan Shrine as well as long-running political uncertainty are expected to further take a toll on Thai tourism.
Coming back from Tokyo this time, I was hoping that Thailand will not be overtaken by Japan any time soon. But when I was greeted by an enthusiastic taxi driver at Suvarnabhumi airport who was happy to bring me home, I could no longer be sure. It is quite unusual for a taxi driver at the airport to be happy with Thai customers when there are foreigners around.
But I guess my taxi driver had no choice this time — there were simply too few foreigners visiting. I had a happy ride back home, but I was not so optimistic about a happy ending for Thai tourism.