Luxury hotels are increasingly opening around Kyushu on expectations that wealthy tourists will flock to Japan’s main southern island.

Although pricey accommodations are operating in Nagasaki Prefecture, Kagoshima Prefecture and elsewhere, expectations from the high-end services appear the greatest in Fukuoka Prefecture.

The Ritz-Carlton, Fukuoka hotel is deemed the centerpiece of Fukuoka city’s Tenjin Big Bang redevelopment project.

“The hotel’s long-awaited opening has finally come true,” Fukuoka Mayor Soichiro Takashima said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 21. “Today marks a symbolic day for Fukuoka city to move to the next stage.”

The hotel in the downtown Tenjin district occupies the upper stories of the 111-meter-tall Fukuoka Daimyo Garden City complex.

It is the first Ritz-Carlton hotel in Kyushu and the sixth in Japan, following Tokyo, Osaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Okinawa Prefecture and Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture.

Ritz-Carlton is the premier brand of Marriott International Inc., the U.S.-based hotel giant that has 182 million members worldwide.

Room charges at Ritz-Carlton, Fukuoka start at 100,000 yen ($678) per night, and a 188-square-meter suite costs at least 2.5 million yen.

The hotel features six restaurants, a swimming pool, spa and gym, and it offers panoramic views of Hakata Port and other destinations far below.

The city is banking on the hotel company’s reputation of catering to wealthy individuals and VIPs around the world.

“I still remember the disappointment over the G-20 summit,” Takashima said, referring to Osaka’s winning bid to host the Group of 20 conference in 2019.

The biggest factor behind Fukuoka’s failure to win the G-20 bidding contest was said to be the city’s lack of upscale accommodations for world leaders and other high-ranking officials.

Takashima stressed that Fukuoka had long wanted a Ritz-Carlton hotel.

Now that the municipality has its “weapon,” it is ramping up efforts to host incentive trips, international conferences, exhibitions and other large-scale events.

Fukuoka city will join a tourism fair scheduled for December in France, with hopes of attracting well-off travelers.

The city plans to invite representatives of European and U.S. travel agencies to Fukuoka to encouraging development and promotion of tour packages.

Operators of existing accommodation facilities in Fukuoka are also putting out the red carpet for the would-be guests.

“Our thought is that it (Ritz-Carlton, Fukuoka) will not woo customers away from us, given the difference in clientele,” said Nobuyoshi Nakamura, secretary-general of the Fukuoka Hotel and Ryokan Association. “The new hotel may serve as a city landmark that helps to lure in new customers via reciprocal effects.”

Other upmarket accommodations have emerged in Kyushu, including Hilton Nagasaki in November 2021 and Sheraton Kagoshima in May this year, but they are not as expensive as Ritz-Carlton, Fukuoka.

Nagasaki Marriott Hotel is scheduled to open in early 2024 within a commercial complex beside JR Nagasaki Station.

It will be the first establishment operated by Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu) under the Marriott brand.

The rail operator already manages its own hotels.

“It is impossible for us alone to create world-class brand power or clientele,” said a JR Kyushu publicity official. “We hope to reel in a range of visitors to Japan from Europe, the United States and elsewhere.”

The luxury hotel expansion into Kyushu has been fueled by regional policies, such as redevelopment plans in urban areas and the easing of floor-area ratio restrictions.

Businesses also see opportunities with a future influx into Kyushu of tourists, particularly from Europe and the United States.

A total of 5.11 million people visited Kyushu from abroad in 2018 before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey by the Kyushu District Transport Bureau.

Visitors from around Asia, including South Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, accounted for more than 90 percent of the total, the survey showed.

The tourism industry in Kyushu expects the numbers from the United States and Europe to expand.

“Leading hotel operators believe in Kyushu’s potential for growth,” said Reijiro Katayama, head of the Kyushu Economic Research Center’s department for surveys and research.

Karl Hudson, a Marriott representative in charge of business in Japan and Guam, told a news conference at the hotel opening in Fukuoka that he has noticed the relatively small numbers of sightseers in the city from Europe and the United States.

Marriott plans to draw more tourists to Japan from Europe and North America and will entice its member customers to travel to Fukuoka.

Hudson said he expects Fukuoka’s appealing cuisine and local attractions will improve the city’s international profile.

Kyushu’s population, size and GDP represent 10 percent of Japan’s totals.

The island has relatively fewer tourism hot spots than Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and other popular sightseeing zones.

However, Kyushu hosts more sightseeing trains, such as JR Kyushu’s Nanatsuboshi (Seven Stars) luxury sleeper, than other regions.

“The strength of Kyushu lies in its tours that allow people to travel through sightseeing spots while enjoying natural surroundings, histories, onsen, dishes and other local specialties,” said Kazuaki Ochiai, an associate professor of hotel industry studies at Nagasaki International University.

“As global hotel chains lure tourists from Europe and the United States to Kyushu, the prefectures need to work closely with each other--rather than separately--to underline the appeal of tourism of all of Kyushu,” Ochiai said.