China's visiting tourists "data is not optimistic," but the Japanese government says "overall situation is good"
At the Japanese House of Representatives Budget Committee on March 6, Mr. Nakagawa from the Reform Coalition expressed concern over the decline in Chinese tourists to Japan, stating that "the data is not optimistic," and called for the government to take measures to improve the situation. Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Mr. Kimi, stated that due to the growth in visitors from other countries and regions, the gap could be "filled," and also said "we expect Chinese tourists to return soon."
Mr. Nakagawa welcomed the first time ever in 2025 that the number of foreign tourists (inbound tourism) exceeded 40 million, but pointed out that "there is a situation that extinguishes this momentum," questioned the issue of the decrease in Chinese tourists, and asked about the year-on-year data from October last year to January this year.
The Deputy Director of the Japan Tourism Agency, Mr. Kimura, responded: "In October last year, the year-on-year increase was about 23%, reaching 720,000 people; in November, the increase was about 3%, around 560,000 people; in December, it decreased by about 45%, around 330,000 people; in January this year, it decreased by about 61%, around 390,000 people."
It is pointed out that the impact of the Prime Minister's comments
Mr. Nakagawa said, "The decrease in December last year was 45% and in January this year was 61%, the data is very severe." He mentioned that some people believe this phenomenon is affected by the Chinese government's travel advisory related to the remarks made by Prime Minister Hayashi about the Taiwan issue, and emphasized, "If the Chinese market remains weak, it will be extremely difficult for the government to achieve its goal of 60 million visitors and 1.5 trillion yen in consumption by 2030."
Mr. Kimura said that due to the growth in the number of visitors from countries and regions other than China, "the overall inbound tourism has been continuously improving since last year, and the tourism market is moving towards diversification." However, Mr. Nakagawa refuted and emphasized, "Even if the situation is stable, with the Chinese market added, it could have been even more stable." He advocated, "While accelerating the diversification of the market, we cannot ignore the stagnation of Japan-China tourism exchanges as a political issue."
Mr. Kimi: "Diversification of the inbound tourism market is crucial"
Mr. Nakagawa, who comes from Komeito, introduced that when there was a confrontation between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands, the then Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism from Komeito, Mr. Ota, had actively promoted the meeting of the two countries' ministers in charge of tourism during the ruling coalition period.
He requested the government: "The more there are political differences, the more important the tourism industry becomes as the foundation of civil exchange. To improve the current cold situation, the government should increase dialogue with China and play a leading role in creating an environment for expanding bilateral exchanges."
Mr. Kimi said, "Tourism plays a major role as the basis of civil exchanges. It is essential to promote the diversification of inbound tourism and strengthen exchanges with countries around the world. Although the share of Chinese tourists has decreased, the number of tourists from Europe, the United States, Australia, and Asian countries has increased, which can fill this gap."
Regarding Chinese tourists, he said, "We hope they can come back soon. As for the overall relationship between Japan and China, we will deal with it properly according to the government's overall policy."
Original: toutiao.com/article/1859110164873290/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.