Travel

Japan aiming for record number of foreign visitors in 2025

TOKYO, Feb 10 (Japan Today) - Japan aims to receive a record number of foreign visitors in 2025, a draft of the government's revised plan showed Thursday, with inbound tourism seeing a steady recovery since the country significantly eased border measures last October.

The tourism plan covering fiscal 2023 to 2025 also aims to increase per person spending to 200,000 yen, up around 25 percent from 2019 levels, and see a 10 percent increase in the number of overnight stays in regional areas by foreign visitors.

The ambitious goals come as the government expects a recovery in demand for international air travel and for upcoming international events to be held in Japan, such as the Expo 2025 in Osaka, to boost visitor numbers.

The draft plan, which was presented at a meeting of experts on Thursday, is set to be approved by the cabinet in March.

While the previous plan ended in fiscal 2020, a revision was postponed due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the tourism industry.

In 2019, prior to the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic, a record 31.88 million tourists visited Japan. But the number fell sharply following the outbreak of COVID-19, totaling only 4.12 million in 2020 and 250,000 in 2021. ...continue reading

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