Politics & Government

Japan to Target ¥200,000 in Spending Per Foreign Visitor

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Tourists walk near Kiyomizudera temple in Kyoto in November.

Jiji Press

10:15 JST, February 11, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Japan Tourism Agency plans to set a target of achieving ¥200,000 in per-person spending by foreign visitors by 2025, up from ¥159,000 in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was learned Thursday.

The target was included in a draft of a new basic plan for tourism presented by the agency at a meeting of a subcommittee of the Council for Transport Policy.

The agency hopes that higher spending by foreign visitors will help regional economies recover after being hit by the pandemic. It aims to achieve the target through efforts such as attracting wealthy tourists from overseas to sightseeing spots outside major cities.

The new basic plan will cover the period from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2025, when the World Expo will be held in the western city of Osaka.

For the annual number of foreign visitors, meanwhile, the agency plans to set a goal of exceeding the record high of 31.88 million, set in 2019, even as uncertainties remain over the pandemic.