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Can Japan Grow Tourism As Its Population Ages?
Some experts say Japan needs to focus, not just on increasing tourism, but increasing the right type of tourist.
Japan welcomed a record number of visitors in November 2024. It wants to welcome 60 million a year by the 2030s. However, some argue that there are severe obstacles to achieving that goal — and Japan’s aging population ranks near the top.
The current crop of tourists is already stretching parts of Japan’s infrastructure to the hilt. We’ve written before about overcrowded public transit, busy (and illegal) taxis, and problems with tourists trespassing into private areas.
Those problems, however, seem solvable. And Japan has a huge incentive to solve them. As journalist Konohana Waka notes in President Magazine, the Japanese government predicts that tourism will go from 6.8% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 8% by 2033.
But, Konohana argues, there are a number of risks to Japan’s tourism domination plans. Potential geopolitical threats involving China, Taiwan, and Korea are one set of problems. There are also challenges related to infrastructure (as I discussed above) and climate change. Severe weather — e.g., increasingly violent typhoons — and temperature changes that impact everything from cherry blossom viewing to skiing pose a different set of threats.