by Tsuyoshi Inada, Executive Researcher

 

(The original article in Japanese was posted in July 2021)

 

One of the industries that have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is the travel industry. Due to travel and entry restrictions imposed by each country, the number of inbound tourists, which mean foreign visitors to Japan, that had been increasing before the spread of the coronavirus, has disappeared, and even domestic travelers have begun to cancel or refrain from travelling since February 2020. On February 14 of the same year, the Japan Tourism Agency issued a warning to people considering domestic travel, urging them to be mindful of hygiene such as hand washing and cough etiquette (covering your mouth, etc.) when travelling. Subsequently, in a national expert meeting, a basic policy to prevent the spread of the coronavirus was formulated. This policy requested sporting and cultural events to refrain from being held and requested schools to close. In addition, prefectural governors have called on people to refrain from unnecessary cross-prefecture travel. From late February to March 2020, the “trend of self-restraint” expanded There were many cancellations of individual trips and group trips including school trips, and lots of travel agencies cancelled their tours. A state of emergency was declared in seven prefectures on April 7, and then it was expanded to all prefectures on April 16 of the same year. In addition to the restrictions on travel of people, the national government also requested large-scale events to refrain from being held, and various events across the country were cancelled or postponed. Moreover, many events organized by the national and local governments were cancelled, and some measures were taken including cancellation or postponement of music, cultural, and sporting events, holding them without audience/spectators, and limitation on the number of audience/spectators.

In response to such situations above, the travel industry is striving for recovery while developing products and services that respond to the society and lifestyles that have been changed in the wake of the COVID-19. In recent years, a new type of travel called “New Tourism” including green tourism, ecotourism, sports tourism, industrial tourism, educational tourism, and medical tourism, has been attracting attention. New Tourism is not a conventional type of travel to so-called sightseeing spots, but a concept of travel conducted, developed, or offered with a certain theme, and a new form of travel including experiential travel, interacting travel, or profitable travel. As mentioned above, the scope of the travel types is wide, and New Tourism with new themes has been developed every year.

Another type of tourism that has been attracting attention since the coronavirus pandemic started is “micro-tourism,” which promotes travel to areas that are easily accessible by private cars or other means for local residents and has been supported with subsidies given by local governments. In addition, the number of online travel business providers that provide simulated travel and sightseeing experiences has been increasing. However, online travel is struggling to become profitable, and it seems that some of the business providers just accept the situation by regarding it as part of their promotions. The online travel industry has seen a number of entrants from other industries, and there has been a need to differentiate the contents from other industries. In addition, as teleworking expands as a way of working in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in the need for “spaces where people can work comfortably,” which has led to an increase in the number of accommodation facilities that started offering “workation” and teleworking plans. There are also an increasing number of companies in other industries, such as real estate companies and karaoke room providers that offer unused spaces to teleworkers.

The fact that various new tourism-related activities have continued to develop within just a few months since the nationwide self-restraint on going out that started in April 2020 shows the extent of Japanese travel and tourism businesses’ accumulated experience to date. At the same time, this experience will be a major driving force to achieve industrial re-growth in the post-COVID-19 society.

According to the Japan Tourism Agency's “Travel and Tourism Consumption Trend Survey,” Japanese domestic travel consumption in 2020 decreased by 54.5% from the previous year to 9,973.8 billion yen. From July 22, 2020, the “GoTo Travel” project was implemented with the aim of stimulating the travel demand that had plummeted due to the coronavirus pandemic, and in August and September of the same year, the number of room reservations recovered to 70% to 80% of the level of the same months of the previous year in some areas. However, due to the spread of the coronavirus again, the operation of the project was suspended on December 28, 2020, and since then, the situation remains severe until now.

Whether or not the travel demand recovers in earnest depends largely on the government’s support measures and to what extent the pandemic is close to the end. The “new tourism era” based on the new travel style has begun.