Photo/Illutration Visitors pose in front of Himeji Castle on Oct. 15 in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The tourism industry, as expected, has seen hordes of visitors flocking to hot spots across Japan over the past couple of months.

Reservation numbers for hotels and flights have soared since Japan lifted its COVID-19 entry restrictions in September and started a nationwide domestic tourism promotion campaign in October.

Although a possible eighth wave of novel coronavirus infections and a labor crunch could dampen enthusiasm, tourism companies for now are enjoying the rebound in business.

Ryuichiro Nishiyama, an executive managing officer at Seibu Holdings Inc., announced rosy financial results at a Nov. 10 news conference.

“Bookings are now difficult to make in Hakone (in Kanagawa Prefecture outside Tokyo) and other resort areas,” he said. “Demand has been growing dramatically in urban regions as well.”

Seibu Holdings said that as of Nov. 6, reservations for rooms at its accommodation facilities nationwide in December were up by 11 percent from the same month in 2019.

Seibu Prince Hotels Worldwide Inc. said its guest room occupancy rate in Japan doubled in October year on year, exceeding 70 percent of the figure for 2018 before the pandemic.

Overseas tourists, particularly from the United States, Singapore and Australia, have been making twice as many reservations as before since late September, the company said.

KNT-CT Holdings Co., which owns travel agency Kinki Nippon Tourist Co., said domestic tour sales from individual travelers rose 1.8 times after the nationwide subsidy program started on Oct. 11.

The reservation number as of Oct. 23 was 3.5 times larger year on year, reaching 80 percent of the pre-pandemic level.

KNT-CT Holdings expects the weakening yen to bring the number of foreign visitors in the next fiscal year to about 70 percent of the 2018 level.

“Recovery appears to be far faster than initially predicted,” KNT-CT Holdings President Akimasa Yoneda said at a Nov. 9 news conference.

ANA Holdings Inc. and Japan Airlines Co. both saw reservations for flights from airports abroad surge threefold to fivefold after the easing of entry regulations was announced on Sept. 22.

Buoyed by a leisure boom, domestic demand in October started to recover from the sluggishness seen during the seventh wave of infections in summer.

If passenger numbers continue rising at such a rapid clip, international flight reservations will recover to 60 percent of the pre-pandemic level by the end of fiscal 2022, while the domestic figure is expected to nearly match the number before the health crisis.

Leading department store operators are gearing up for an influx of shoppers.

The Matsuya Ginza department store reported a 17-fold rise in duty-free sales from Oct. 11 compared with the same period in 2021. The figure for Nov. 1-9 was around 95 percent of the pre-pandemic level in 2019.

Ten automatic translation machines have been set up at the store’s duty-free counter and sales corners to cater to those from various nations.

A Muslim prayer room temporarily closed during the pandemic has reopened.

(This article was written by Go Takahashi, Shinya Matsumoto and Yoko Masuda.)

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