Niseko hotels see reservations rising, but struggle to hire foreign staff

Hokkaido ski resorts feel labor pinch as Japan reopens borders

Jun 12 (Nikkei) - With the Japanese government recently deciding to ease entry restrictions for overseas tourists, Chitose Airport near Sapporo is preparing to welcome visitors again. And Niseko, a major winter resort two and a half hours' drive west, is taking more reservations for the upcoming ski season.

All seems well, but there is one glaring weakness in the tourism business in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido: a shortage of foreign staff.

Niseko resort, which straddles the towns of Kutchan and Niseko, is a top destination in Hokkaido for affluent overseas tourists, and foreign staff help make their trips more pleasant by lowering the language barrier. Niseko offers high-end lodgings, some of which go for more than 100,000 yen ($740) a night. Foreign visitors made around 680,000 overnight stays in the two towns in fiscal 2018.

The Kutchan Tourism Association says 132 condominiums in the two towns had taken 1,349 reservations for the six-months between November 2022 and May 2023, as of May 23 this year, with foreigners accounting for 90% of the bookings. That is four times more than last season and just over 60% of the level seen three seasons before. The association attributes the rebound to a recovery in reservations from Australia and elsewhere.

The cap on daily arrivals to Japan has been raised to 20,000. Tourists from abroad will be limited to guided tours from 98 countries and territories for the time being, including the U.S. and China. The restrictions are due to be eased in phases.

More than 3 million overseas tourists visited Hokkaido in fiscal 2018, giving a boost to the regional economy. But overnight stays by overseas tourists in Kutchan dropped 95% year on year in fiscal 2020 to just 20,925 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Local business are pinning their hopes on the resumption of inbound tourism.

However, hotel operators in the Niseko area are far from cheery. A personnel official at Miru Niseko, a hotel in Kutchan, says the hotel been searching for new employees, but applicants with language skills and other qualifications are hard to find.

Do Bears Prefer Acorns or Berries?

Bear sightings across Japan have already climbed to nearly twice the level recorded during the same period last year, prompting entry bans in mountain areas behind Kyoto’s Ninna-ji Temple and the cancellation of hiking events in Kansai, while new research suggests that the key to reducing encounters may lie in understanding what bears eat in each region.

Copper Thieves Target Japanese Shrines

Copper roofing panels were stolen from several shrines in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, including a city-designated cultural property, in the latest case amid a nationwide surge in copper thefts targeting shrines and temples across Japan, where soaring metal prices have fueled crimes that leave historic religious buildings damaged, exposed to the elements, and facing repair costs of millions of yen.

1200-Year-Old Temple on Miyajima Reduced to Ashes

Flames broke out on the morning of May 20th on Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture, home to one of Japan's World Heritage sites, destroying Reikado Hall near the summit of Mount Misen.

From Bento Boxes to Garbage Bags, Rising Costs Hitting Daily Life Across Japan

Uncertainty surrounding the situation in the Middle East is beginning to affect daily life in Japan, as concerns over crude oil supplies spread to restaurants, cleaning services and even household garbage disposal systems across the Kansai region.

Tochigi Robbery-Murder Suspect’s Wife Posted Dance Videos on Social Media

A 25-year-old woman arrested as a suspected ringleader in a robbery-murder case in Tochigi Prefecture once posted cheerful dance videos on social media and was remembered by those who knew her as an energetic and outgoing young woman.

MEDIA CHANNELS

MORE Business NEWS

Morinaga Suspends Sales of Long-Selling Hi-Soft Caramels Due to Middle East Tensions

The impact of tensions in the Middle East is spreading to familiar snacks in Japan, with Morinaga & Co. temporarily suspending sales of some caramel products, including its long-selling Hi-Soft brand, after difficulties emerged in securing certain raw materials.

Nikkei Surges Over 2,200 Points as SoftBank Lifted by OpenAI IPO Report

The Nikkei Stock Average rebounded sharply on May 21st after falling below 60,000 at the previous day's close, briefly rising more than 2,200 points as hopes grew for progress in talks toward ending the fighting between the United States and Iran, while SoftBank Group gave the market a major boost following reports that OpenAI was preparing to file for an initial public offering.

Japan’s Oil Imports Collapse, Down 67.2% from Middle East in April

Japan’s imports of crude oil from the Middle East plunged 67.2% in April from a year earlier, as the impact of the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz began to ripple through the country’s trade and energy supply chains.

Quantum Technology Used to Develop New Stock Index

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Toshiba announced on May 20th that they had jointly developed a new stock index utilizing quantum technology.

TOTO Revamps London Showroom

TOTO, a major Japanese manufacturer of housing and bathroom equipment, reopened its showroom in London, England, on May 20th after undergoing its first major renovation in 16 years.

From Bento Boxes to Garbage Bags, Rising Costs Hitting Daily Life Across Japan

Trump Trades Hundreds of Millions of Yen in Kura Sushi USA Shares

U.S. President Donald Trump was found to have traded large amounts of stock, including shares in Kura Sushi USA, in a wave of more than 3,700 transactions over a three-month period that has sparked criticism over possible conflicts of interest.

Naphtha Shock Even Affecting Cheap Candy

As conflict in the Middle East drags on, shortages of naphtha — a key raw material used in a wide range of petroleum-based products — are beginning to affect even Japan's traditional cheap snacks, with manufacturers facing steep rises in packaging and material costs while trying to keep products affordable for children.

< 2 3 4 5 >