KYOTO - Tourism surged with the start of Golden Week, with some people venturing out and others staying put. Among them is a story of transformation: in Hakuba, once a quiet summer destination with few visitors, local players have successfully turned it into a bustling hotspot.
Their efforts to continuously prepare new facilities and attractions have helped prevent overtourism while drawing in crowds.
At the same time, there are tourist areas now struggling with the impacts of overtourism.
Amid rising prices, many are feeling the pinch, with visitors noting that a trip to Universal Studios now costs around 15,000 yen per person, compared to less than 10,000 yen just a few years ago. The effects of inflation are being felt across this year’s fragmented Golden Week holidays.
One of the newly popular destinations is Hakone’s Ōwakudani in Kanagawa Prefecture, where a new observation deck opened just in time for the holidays. The deck, featuring transparent glass floors, allows visitors to walk above the valley and experience an exhilarating view that has quickly become a major attraction.
At the same time, Japan’s tourism industry is increasingly focusing on inbound travelers. Last year, spending by foreign visitors reached 8.1 trillion yen, making tourism an industry second only to automobile exports in scale. Areas like Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture are drawing attention for their successful strategies in attracting both domestic and international tourists.
Hakuba, once known mainly as a winter ski resort, saw only around 30,000 summer visitors in 2017. However, that number surged to approximately 260,000 last year. A consulting company helped lead the transformation by enhancing scenic spots where visitors could enjoy views, take photos, and relax. In 2018, a terrace offering food and drink against a panoramic backdrop was opened. Then in 2020, a large swing designed to let people feel immersed in the surrounding nature became a sensation, at one point drawing five-hour queues.
To ease congestion and spread out visitors, the area introduced new attractions such as mountain cart rides. Efforts were also made to expand accommodation capacity, including leasing and reopening traditional inns, as summer tourism in Hakuba began attracting more foreign tourists. However, the challenges of an aging population of inn operators and labor shortages remain a concern, with owners noting that managing lodging and meal services demands significant effort.
Elsewhere, overtourism is starting to affect the lives of local residents. In Kyoto’s Kōdai-ji Temple, which is normally closed to the public, unauthorized entry by tourists last September caused extensive damage, including broken bamboo and collapsed fences. Although signs have since been posted to deter similar incidents, temple staff lament that signage spoils the landscape and ideally should not be necessary.
Kyoto City has stepped up efforts to address bad tourist behavior by distributing multilingual etiquette guides and raising awareness. To secure funds for further countermeasures, the city is also planning to raise its accommodation tax to a maximum of 10,000 yen per stay. As inbound tourism continues to grow, the question remains how to create environments where both visitors and local residents can coexist comfortably.
Source: YOMIURI
