The Domestic Inbounds
As noted in my post THE INBOUND TRAGEDY (03/05/2020), although tourism in Japan represent only about 2,3% of the GNP (over 32 M tourist in 2019) tourists are very very “visible”, giving a perception that without tourism industry japan’s economy might collapse.
Japan’s actual re-entry limitations for foreigners isn’t a positive message but anyway the travel industry is only very slowly re-opening routes. So the basic mathematics are for July and August 2020 = 2.8 M foreign residents + 3.8 M Japanese nationals not going abroad – 5.6 M tourists not coming = ?
The actual challenge being how to create an attractive offer of NEW NORMAL tourism in Japan towards this populations. This could be a huge opportunity for Japan to shift from a criticized mass tourism economy to a contents oriented tourism enhancing it’s potentials as cultural, gastronomy, meditation etc.
I am convinced that this is the card Japan should bet on, regions have a uniq chance to promote their terroir and heritage, attracting also potential long term resident, counteracting depopulation due to aging.
And we, at exprime inc, are convinced we can help by providing our expertise in designing new ways of discovering Japan.
THE JAPAN EXCEPTION ? (09/06/2020)