Sun, Jan 19, 2025 page9

• Japan’s tourism boom prices out business travelers

  • By Natsuko Fukue / AFP, TOKYO
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  After traveling to Tokyo for meetings, employees of Yoshiki Kojima’s information technology company crashed out in a capsule hotel, as a tourism boom makes regular rooms too pricey for business trips.

  A weak yen is attracting more visitors than ever to Japan, with national tourism figures released on Wednesday showing a new record of an estimated 36.8 million arrivals last year.

  That is also raising prices for Kojima’s staff and other Japanese business travelers.

  

  People gather at a shopping district in Tokyo on Wednesday.

  Photo: EPA-EFE

  Capsule hotels, a Japanese institution, offer claustrophobic bed-sized pods, often double-stacked in rows.

  Kojima said that they have a “shabby” reputation, so he found a more comfortable establishment that boasts high-end mattresses and a TV in each capsule.

  “It’s clean, convenient and has a traditional shared bath house. My employees say it’s fun,” he said.

  A night in a standard capsule there starts at ￥5,000 (US$31.99) — but its rates are rising, he said.

  It is still cheaper than a basic private room at a business hotel, which in the Japanese capital cost ￥20,048 on average in November last year.

  That is up from the pre-COVID-19-pandemic peak of ￥12,926 in April 2019, according to research by Tokyo Hotel Kai, an association that represents about 200 hotels.

  “I’m happy there are so many visitors to Japan, but I’m agonizing every day about finding a flexible way” to run the business, said Kojima, who needs to bring about 20 to 30 employees to the capital for company-wide meetings.

  The Japanese economy benefits from the surge in foreign tourists because it creates jobs and the visitors spend money, NLI Research Institute analyst Takuto Yasuda said.

  “But it has a negative impact as well, such as Japanese people not being able to travel, or their daily lives being affected by overtourism,” he said.

  Japan’s chronic labor shortages and an increase in hotel supply costs are also pushing up the fees, he added.

  Keisuke Morimoto, who runs a kimono shop in Japan’s western Nara Prefecture, was shocked when he learned a two-night stay at a Tokyo hotel would cost him ￥60,000.

  “Seriously, what do I do for the hotel for my business trip?” he wrote on social media.

  Morimoto said he is thinking of using short-term rental platform Airbnb Inc, which has cheaper options.

  Some tourist spots are fighting back against overtourism, including the ancient capital of Kyoto, where residents have complained of visitors harassing the city’s famed geisha.

  Now, Kyoto plans to hike its accommodation taxes, including by up to 10 times for top-end hotels, the mayor said on Tuesday.

  Japan wants to welcome 60 million visitors a year by 2030.

  That could mean even more expensive domestic business trips to Tokyo, Osaka and major cities, where demand for hotel bookings has spiked due to crowds of first-time visitors.

  The number of foreign visitors to Tokyo has doubled since 2019, and was up 1.5 times in Osaka, government data showed.

  To even things out, the government wants tourists to visit lesser-known destinations, encouraging them to stay at least two nights in rural towns.

  Yasuda agreed that funneling visitors elsewhere is key to easing pressure on city hotels.

  The occupancy rate last year for business hotels in Tokyo run by major operator Fujita Kanko Inc was 88 percent, and average rates were up 26 percent from last year, the company said.

  “Currently, demand is concentrated in major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, so we are hoping that this will spread to Sapporo, Naha and other smaller regions,” the firm said.

  Kojima said he might resort to drastic measures.

  “I’m thinking of moving our headquarters to Sapporo, or organizing a meeting in a hot spring town near Tokyo,” he said. “There are many areas that aren’t flooded with tourists, and we can take advantage of that.”
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