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Japan Tourism Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, tourism associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Japan`s tourism industry.
Japans arrival numbers have grown steadily since 2001. Although they took a hit in 2009, falling to 6.66mn after reaching 8.35mn in 2008, arrivals are forecast to rebound in 2010 to 8.45mn. The number of air and sea tourist arrivals continually increased from 2001 to 2007. Tourist arrivals by air are by far the most predominant, with 8.49mn arriving by air in 2007 compared to 666,000 by sea. Leisure arrivals outnumber those visiting Japan for business purposes. In 2009, leisure arrivals totaled 4.65mn, while business arrivals came to 1.24mn, both falling from 2008 but forecast to pick up in 2010. The authors forecast that the number of leisure arrivals will continue to grow for the remainder of the forecast period, reaching 8.44mn by 2014, while business arrivals are forecast to reach 1.74mn.
Japan is targeting Chinese tourists and plans to ease visa regulations for Chinese citizens. Under the current regulations, to come to Japan as an individual a Chinese traveller must have an annual income of more than CNY250,000 (US$36,600), which is a large sum for most Chinese workers, so visitors tend to come as part of a tour group. Under the new regulations, Japan is expected lower the threshold of annual income to CNY60,000 (US$8,780).
As well as appointing a new commissioner, the Japanese Tourism Agency (JTA) has launched a new slogan and logo. The Japan: Endless Discovery slogan is part of the country`s revamped tourist promotions to boost inbound visitor numbers. The latest logo depicts white Japanese cherry blossom against a red sun background.
Individual and collective government expenditure is forecast to decline over the coming years. The Japanese governments individual expenditure has risen since it came in at US$15.64mn in 2001 but is estimated to peak at US$22.11 in 2009. We forecast individual government tourism expenditure to decline to US$19.81mn by 2014. The governments collective tourism expenditure is also expected to decrease during the forecast period. In 2001, collective expenditure came in at US$12.30mn and peaked at US$17.32mn in 2009. From 2010, the authors forecast collective expenditure to fall, reaching US$15.43mn by 2014.
There is room for growth in the low-cost carrier segment of the Japanese airline market. Japans air industry has been dominated by Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA). Budget airlines have not sprung up in Japan as in the rest of the Asia Pacific region due to the country`s expensive and inefficient airports. That said, Ibaraki Airport at Omitama, 53 miles (85km) north of Tokyo, opened in March 2010 and is intended to be a no-frills airport, which could allow for low-budget airlines to enter the market. Ibaraki only offers two flights per day so far, one to the South Korean capital Seoul on Asiana Airlines and another to Kobe by Skymark Airlines. ANA is considering launching a low-cost carrier to take advantage of the new runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
