Japan Hopes to Set a New Record for Tourism in 2025 as More People Plan “Dream Vacations.”

Following up on where it left off three years prior, when it had hoped to surpass the pre-pandemic peak of 31 million arrivals in 2019, before the spread of Covid-19 put paid to those ambitions, Japan is attempting to break its tourist record in 2025.

A recent draft plan for the industry’s medium-term perspective, published by tourism specialists, predicts a quick recovery in the inbound travel market. In March, the government is anticipated to make the initiative public policy.

There were great expectations for the 40 million visitors to Japan in 2020, which included a surge of sports lovers going to the Tokyo Olympics. However, following the outbreak of Covid-19, the number declined to 3.17 million in that year, and it further decreased in 2021 with only 245,900 foreign visitors.

An encouraging development is that 3.8 million tourists visited Japan in 2017. The business group that made the estimate is certain that Japan would be able to capitalize on increased interest in the Osaka Expo 2025 and a global rebound in air travel demand.

The numbers are reinforced by JTB Corp’s estimate for 2023, which predicts 21.1 million foreign visitors this year, more than five times the number from last year but only 66.2 percent of the amount for 2019.

JTB predicted in its study that demand from South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and other Southeast Asian countries would rebound strongly, in large part due to the relaxation of traveler health regulations.

In the research, it was noted that there was “no likelihood of a full-fledged recovery” as of January 2023, which made the outlook for the China market less definite. The statement continued, however, by stating that once the constraints had been completely relaxed, demand would “recover swiftly, following the same trend as other incoming markets.”

According to the research, the recovery of long-distance markets like Europe and North America was also anticipated to take a little longer.

A significant tourism rebound was already beginning to show, according to many industry insiders.

According to Sam Sakamura, vice-president of Hyatt Properties for Japan and Micronesia, “Since Japan reopened its doors to foreign travelers last autumn, Hyatt’s hotels in the country have seen a significant surge in inbound guests.” According to him, reservations have increased by over 180% since the same time last year.

Sakamura stated that reservations had become more secure for the coming cherry blossom season. In May, the administration announced plans to change the pandemic status under the Infectious Disease Control Law to Class 5. This has improved things even more, and if China lowers its border controls, there will be a huge increase in Chinese tourists visiting the United States.

Sakamura said that Japan ranked first out of 117 countries in the World Economic Forum’s evaluation of travel and tourist attractiveness in 2021 as evidence that the country would continue to be a popular vacation spot.