Speaking at a media briefing during the World Travel and Tourism Council summit last week, Japan Airlines chairman Masaru Onishi revealed that LGBT families were now included in the airline’s family mileage pooling programme. The Japan Times reported last month that the national tourism agency had asked hot spring operators to allow tattoo-sporting guests into their facilities in a bid to draw in more overseas tourists. Tattoos are fairly controversial in the Japanese society due to its association with triad yakuza members; many spa operators do not admit people with tattoos due to the stigma attached.

All of the efforts combined with a range of factors including visa relaxation policy and the devaluation of yen last year showed results on the tourist arrival numbers. For the first time in 45 years, inbound tourists to Japan in 2015 surpassed the number of outbound Japanese travellers. Tourist arrivals in Japan reached an all time high of 19.74 million visitors last year, almost doubling the number of inbound visitors in 2013.

In its most ambitious plan yet, the Japanese government recently announced a target to double the inbound tourism numbers to 40 million by 2020 and 60 million by 2030. During the same event held at the WTTC summit, Japan National Tourism Organisation president Ryoichi Matsuyama said a special panel was set up by the Abe administration in November last year to achieve the targets. “Our goals may be ambitious and challenging but we believe that we can achieve these goals by working with the private sector,” said Matsuyama.

As part of the plan to boost tourism, Matsuyama said the government decided to open up access to the country’s national parks. The Environment Ministry announced last month that five national parks were earmarked for tourism promotion programme this summer. The decision to liberalise access to the national parks came about to address criticism levelled at the government’s failure to tap into Japan’s natural treasures for tourism. The rustic beauty of the natural parks could be the backdrop for outdoor events like cycling and music festivals. According to a report from Nikkei Asian Review, the number of foreign visitors to 32 national parks in Japan totalled 4.3 million last year. The government aims to increase the number to 10 million by 2020.

More hotelsAlthough the steady rise in tourist numbers since the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake augurs well for the sector, the dramatic increase in tourist arrivals—an increase of 47.1 per cent last year—presented a problem of hotel shortage in Japan.

“Hotels in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka have an occupancy rate of more than 90 per cent, we would like to invite the big chains to invest in new hotels in Japan,” said Matsuyama. On the other hand, Matsuyama said it was time to overhaul regulations for hotels that were set over 60 years ago. The hospitality industry in Japan is governed under the provisions of hotel business law which set conditions for the number of rooms, floor area to the establishment of a front desk. “We have to review the system and remove barriers to increase productivity of the hotels,” he said.

Chinese tourist bonanzaAsia accounted for 82.9 per cent of tourist arrivals with China, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong among the top four countries. Despite the tiff between the two countries, Chinese tourists are flocking to Japan with a quarter of the arrivals posted from the mainland last year. “The majority of Chinese tourists travel in tour groups but we are seeing more individual tourists, an encouraging trend that hopefully will continue to grow,” said Matsuyama.

With more than 30,000 duty-free stores, Japan, perhaps advertently, caters to the shopping spree habits of Chinese tourists who buy everything from rice cookers to toilet seats. Tourist spending increased by 71.5 per cent last year to US$30 billion; the government had set a target of US$72 billion by 2020.

“Besides the arrival numbers, we are focused on increasing tourist spending and the number of repeat visitors as well as broadening the tourist routes,” said Matsuyama. The government hopes to diversify destinations beyond the Tokyo-Hakone-Kyoto golden route, including Tohoku prefecture which was devastated by the 2011 earthquake. “There are many hidden attractions in Tohoku yet to be uncovered by tourists such as powder snow for skiing and snowboarding activities,” said Matsuyama. He assured tourists that radiation level was normal in the region apart from areas that are within 10-km radius from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Key eventsAs part of its preparation plan for Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Japan had signed an MoU with Britain to learn from the latter about strategies to attract visitors when London hosted the games in 2012. Japan will be hosting three major events back-to-back, starting with Rugby World Cup in 2019, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Kansai World Masters Games the following year. “The focus now is on preparation for the Olympics Games as it is the most urgent,” said Matsumaya.