As Japan throws open its doors to visitors this week after more than two years of pandemic isolation, hopes for a tourism boom face tough headwinds amid shuttered shops and a shortage of hospitality workers.
Key points:
- Japan's PM is counting on tourism to help invigorate the economy
- However, about 73 per cent of Japan's hotels are short staffed
- About half of the shops and restaurants in Japan's biggest airport remain closed
From Tuesday, Japan will reinstate visa-free travel to dozens of countries, including Australia, and scrap its cap of 50,000 daily arrivals, ending some of the world's strictest border controls to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is counting on tourism to help invigorate the nation's economy and reap some benefits from the yen's slide to a 24-year low.
Arata Sawa is among those eager for the return of foreign tourists, who previously comprised 90 per cent of the guests at his traditional inn in Tokyo.
"I'm hoping and anticipating that a lot of foreigners will come to Japan, just like before COVID," Mr Sawa said.
More than half a million tourists have visited Japan so far this year, compared with a record 31.8 million in 2019.
Banking on the summer Olympics to boost visitor numbers, the government had a goal of 40 million in 2020 until both were up-ended by the pandemic.
Airport like a 'ghost town'
Japan's biggest international airport, Narita Airport, remains eerily quiet, with about half of its 260 shops and restaurants closed.
"It's like half a ghost town," New Zealand traveller Maria Satherley said.
Ms Satherley, whose son lives in the northern island of Hokkaido, said she would like to return with her granddaughter this winter but probably would not because she was too young to receive a vaccination, which is a prerequisite for tourists entering Japan.
"We're just going to wait till next year," she said.
President Sawato Shindo said three souvenir shops had been closed at the airport and were unlikely to reopen until next spring.
"I don't think there's going to be a sudden return to the pre-pandemic situation," Mr Shindo said.
"Restrictions are still pretty strict compared to other countries."
Staff shortages raise concerns
About 73 per cent of hotels nationwide said they were short of regular workers in August, up from about 27 per cent a year earlier, according to market research firm Teikoku Databank.
In Kawaguchiko, a lake town at the foot of Mt Fuji, inns had staffing difficulties before the pandemic due to Japan's tight labour market. They anticipate a similar bottleneck now, according to a trade group staffer.
That sentiment was echoed by Akihisa Inaba, general manager at the hot-spring resort Yokikan in Shizuoka, who said short staffing during the summer meant workers had to forego time off.
"Naturally, the labour shortage will become more pronounced when inbound travel returns," Mr Inaba said.
"So, I'm not so sure we can be overjoyed."
Whether overseas visitors wear face masks and abide by other common infection controls in Japan is another concern.
The strict border controls were broadly popular during most of the pandemic, and fears remain about the appearance of new viral variants.
"From the start of the pandemic until now, we've had just a few foreign guests," innkeeper Mr Sawa said.
"Pretty much all of them wore masks, but I'm really not sure whether the people who visit from here on will do the same."
Reuters