Japan Gov't. Cannot Take Credit For Rise In Foreign Tourists, Report Says

Japan saw 10 million foreign visitors come into the country for the first time during 2013. This was after the 2011 Great East Earthquake and tsunami.

Following the earthquake and tsunami (and the related Fukushima radiation problems), Japan undertook a massive public relations campaign to get people back to visiting the country. Some of these efforts helped, some did not, according to an article in The Japan Times.

The Japan Times wrote:

The government probably can’t take credit for the increase in the number of foreign tourists. Many of its projects to attract visitors, such as inviting foreign travel agencies to Japan, participating in trade shows overseas and various advertising campaigns, are ineffective, according to a recent report by the internal affairs ministry. 

Of the 244 projects the Japan Tourism Agency funded from fiscal 2010 to 2012, 31 of them, on which the agency spent as much as ¥90 million, failed to attract even one tourist.

It has been my belief (based on what I observed) that the increase in Japan tourism rose when the Japanese yen weakened. Foreigners found that their currencies did not buy as much yen as in previous years. This turned off potential Japan tourists. I blogged back then that once the dollar regains strength against the yen, U.S. tourists will begin to come back.

Around the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the U.S. dollar only bought 90 yen. From there, it got even worse. (See the history of the yen/dollar exchange rate since 1999 by going here.) On October 28, 2011, the dollar only bought 75.86 yen. Small wonder American tourists stayed away.

After October 2011, the dollar began to gain strength against the yen as the yen began to weaken. The dollar/yen exchange rate is currently hovering around 101-102 yen. But that rate is only for the "high rollers." For us serfs, we now get around 98-99 yen per dollar exchanged. Back in April 2007, I got 116 yen per dollar. For some reason, the exchange rate between the dollar and yen is stuck at 101-102. This has been the case for months.

Still, although stuck at 101-102 yen, the rise in foreign tourism was roughly commensurate with the weakening of the yen. As foreign currencies bounced back, so did foreign tourism. Campaigns by the Japanese government's tourism agencies had minimal effect.

To read the full story, go here.