Diverting Foreigners to Regional Areas Key to Japan as Tourism Nation

Tokyo, Dec. 20 (Jiji Press)--With many of foreigners visiting Japan drawn to metropolitan areas, diverting them to regional areas holds the key to success in the government's aim of making the country a tourism-oriented nation.

Fueled in part by the yen's decline, a record number of foreigners have visited Japan this year, with some for tasting Japanese food and others for experiencing the culture and nature of the Asian country.

The concentration of foreign visitors in metropolitan areas, however, is causing negative impacts including surges in accommodation costs in some of these areas.

There have been noticeable increases in visitors from the United States, Europe and Australia, as well as from Asia.

In the first 11 months of this year, the cumulative number of visitors from the United States jumped 57.4 pct from the same period in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released recently by the Japan National Tourism Organization. Visitors from Australia surged 47.1 pct.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]