Tourism Decline in Domestic Tourism

[Ukigumo]

On Tuesday, the Cabinet of Japan released its annual tourism white paper, based on data for the 2024 administrative year. The report found that roughly 36.87 million foreign tourists visited Japan last year, a record-setting number. But while Japan's travel destinations are proving more attractive than ever to visitors from overseas, the local population is traveling less. 540 million Japanese residents traveled domestically last year, which is an 8.2-percent drop compared to 2019, the last year before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Fewer Japanese people traveling domestically, government blames birth rate, others blame foreign crowds, costs | LIVE JAPAN travel guide

Japanese domestic travel numbers have shrunk by more than the population has.

livejapan.com

 

[thomas]

I would also believe that the contracting population, as well as the rising prices, are major contributors to the decline in domestic travelling. And, of course, the tourist hordes. People are reluctant to spend their scarce holidays competing with the overseas crowds in formerly popular, now hopelessly overrun places like Kyoto or Hokkaido .

 

[Ukigumo]

It's been about 9 years since I last went to Japan and areas like Tokyo and Kyōto were fairly busy back then, but are they that much worse? Can't you slightly ameliorate the effects of the crowds by getting to places early?

 

[mdchachi]

It's been about 9 years since I last went to Japan and areas like Tokyo and Kyōto were fairly busy back then, but are they that much worse? Can't you slightly ameliorate the effects of the crowds by getting to places early?

Although I go to Japan yearly I don't go to tourist places that much so I can't really say. But there's definitely a lot more tourists now that Japan is so much more affordable due to the weak yen and the Chinese have more disposable income. I did see a flag holding tour guide walking a group of overseas tourists through Shibuya on one of my recent trips. I don't remember ever seeing that before. I never really thought of Shibuya as a tourist destination with sights requiring a guide before.

 

[Ukigumo]

Perhaps it's just the popular/obvious tourist places that first time visitors and those who don't know much about Japan might be attracted?

 

[Majestic]

But while Japan's travel destinations are proving more attractive than ever to visitors from overseas, the local population is traveling less. 540 million Japanese residents traveled domestically last year,

That must be a typo. The country only has a population of ~120 million. How could 540 million Japanese travel?
And if every Japanese person is making multiple trips each year, then it feels like the "overtourism" is coming from within.

 

[mdchachi]

But while Japan's travel destinations are proving more attractive than ever to visitors from overseas, the local population is traveling less. 540 million Japanese residents traveled domestically last year,

That must be a typo. The country only has a population of ~120 million. How could 540 million Japanese travel?
And if every Japanese person is making multiple trips each year, then it feels like the "overtourism" is coming from within.

It's probably number of "trips" including day trips. These numbers seem to be in the same range.
That's about 4-5 trips per person which is probably reasonable.

 

[Majestic]

OK - then I think the "headline" is slightly misleading. There is an increasing trend in domestic tourism since covid. The story is talking about a drop, but the drop is only in comparison with 2019. Covid caused tourism to crater, and now its on the rebound. So I feel a bit of sleight of hand going on with these statistics. Compared with 2021, there is a massive increase in domestic tourism.