2023-08-27 22:13:27
Group tourists from mainland China, which had been cut off due to the corona disaster, have begun to return to Japan for the first time in three and a half years. The domestic tourism industry has high hopes for the revival of the “core” of inbound (visitors to Japan), but it is hoped that the resumption of full-scale people-to-people exchanges will be an opportunity to put the cold Japan-China relations on a course of improvement.
The Chinese government announced on the 10th of this month that it would newly lift the ban on group tours to 78 countries and regions, including Japan, the United States and South Korea. Since February of this year, following the “zero corona policy” was abolished, the ban on overseas group tours has been lifted in stages, reaching regarding 60 countries, but not including Japan and the United States, which have political concerns. I didn’t.
In 2019, before COVID-19, the number of Chinese visitors to Japan was 9.59 million, accounting for 30% of all foreign visitors. The revival is good news for the inbound industry, including domestic tourist destinations, airlines, and hotels, but there are concerns regarding the volume of visitors to Japan, which is an order of magnitude higher than that of other countries.
One is the tourism industry, which serves as a platform for visitors to Japan. The shortage of workers is likely to become even more serious as the company struggles to secure new employees who have left their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. There is also growing concern regarding “overtourism,” in which excessive numbers of tourists put pressure on the livelihoods of local residents. I would like the government and related companies to exercise their wisdom so that it does not lead to serious trouble.
August marked the 45th anniversary of the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China. embarked on a ban. The mood is far from celebratory, with the successive arrests of Japanese nationals in China.
In that sense, there are great expectations that the resumption of cross-border travel will support the cooling relationship. Between the two countries, steady and long-lasting private-sector exchanges paved the way for the normalization of diplomatic relations and have a history of supplementing political confrontations. Also, according to a survey, the percentage of Chinese who have a favorable impression of Japan jumps when limited to those who have visited Japan. The opportunity to actually visit Japan and interact with Japanese people can be said to be a great opportunity to deepen your understanding of Japan.
In order to ensure this trend, China should resume the visa exemption for short-term business trips and sightseeing from Japan, which was implemented before the corona crisis. I would like the Japanese side to do what it can. First of all, I want to restart from the pre-corona situation where the flow of people was interrupted.
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