Photo/Illutration Foreign visitors outnumber Japanese in the departure lobby of Haneda International Airport in Tokyo on April 14. (Go Takahashi)

Although the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan is steadily recovering to pre-pandemic levels, the same cannot be said for outbound Japanese travelers.

Soaring prices for travel, a weaker yen and a dwindling number of passport holders have been cited as reasons why Japanese are staying in their home country.

The Japan National Tourism Organization on April 19 said 1,817,500 foreign nationals visited Japan in March, 65.8 percent of the level seen in March 2019 before the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan’s cherry blossom season and the resumption of cruise ship operations helped to bring more visitors to the nation that month.

In contrast, 694,300 Japanese people went overseas in March, only 36 percent of the level seen in the same month of 2019. The ratio has hovered between 30 and 40 percent for three consecutive months.

Major travel agency JTB Corp. estimates that 200,000 Japanese will venture abroad during the Golden Week holidays this year, which is only 20 percent of the number in 2019.

SLOW RECOVERY

A survey conducted by the Japan Association of Travel Agents showed the most common concern among Japanese tourists was the rising cost of travel.

“Everything, from hotels and restaurants to bus fares, is going up in price,” said Atsushi Sakai, JATA vice chairman.

The weakened yen has pushed up the costs of visiting overseas countries, while airfares continue to be higher than before the pandemic.

The number of flights and available seats have also not returned to pre-pandemic levels, especially at regional airports.

Japan relaxed its border restrictions last year, later than other countries, and foreign airlines have been slow to increase the number of flights to and from Japan.

Labor shortages at airports and airline companies have also been a contributing factor to the sluggish travel abroad by Japanese.

DECLINING NUMBER OF PASSPORT HOLDERS

In January, a British consulting firm’s survey showed that the passports of Japan and Singapore could be used for visa-free travel to 193 countries and regions, the most in the world.

Despite having access to the “strongest passport in the world,” the percentage of Japanese who own passports is low compared with other developed countries. This is also hampering recovery of overseas travel.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the total number of valid Japanese passports at the end of 2022 was 21.75 million, down 2.65 million from the previous year.

Before the pandemic, one in four Japanese had a passport. But since 2020, the number has decreased to one in five.

Japanese people also tend to be less frequent overseas travelers.

JATA said the number of departures for destinations abroad per population in Japan was 15.3 percent in 2018, compared with departure rates of 28.4 percent in the United States, 52.1 percent in South Korea, and 107.9 percent in Britain.

Japan’s low rate can be partly attributed to the large number of domestic travel options, said Masahiko Inada, the JATA outbound travel promotion division head.

JATA will start a campaign on May 15 to increase demand for overseas travel. It will hold a lottery whose winners can receive an electronic gift worth 8,000 yen ($60), half the price of obtaining a passport valid for 10 years.

SPENDING PER TOURIST RISES

The Japan Tourism Agency on April 19 said foreign travelers in Japan spent 1.0146 trillion yen from January to March, 88.1 percent of the level of the same period in 2019.

The latest figure was 1.7 times higher than the spending of 595.2 billion yen in the October-December period in 2022.

Although the number of foreign visitors to Japan was 60 percent of the figure for the same period in 2019, the amount spent per person jumped 1.4 times to 211,957 yen.

The agency said the increase in spending can be attributed to the effects of the weak yen and tourists’ willingness to splurge on their first visits to Japan in a long time.

In addition, a large percentage of travelers stayed in Japan longer to visit relatives, study or for other reasons. They helped to push up per capita spending, the agency said.

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