Can luxury travel give Japan’s economy a post-Olympics shot in the arm?

Government support for the construction of 50 new ‘world-class’ hotels has raised hopes of a new tourism boom and has travel agents salivating

But will they be built in the right places to divert travellers from the well-worn ‘Golden Route’ and make the country a ‘playground for wealthy tourists’?

Reading Time:4 minutes

A view of Mount Fuji from a luxury hotel on a hillside overlooking Lake Kawaguchi. Photo: Hoshinoya Fuji Hotel

Published: 2:30pm, 15 Dec 2019Updated: 2:49pm, 16 Dec 2019

Virtually every time she finds herself enjoying the view or sampling local cuisine in one of Japan’s many picturesque backwaters, Evelyn Teplass-Mugii asks herself why there is not another foreigner in sight.

All too often, she says, the tourists are following the well-worn “Golden Route” which links the bright lights of Tokyo and Osaka, with a cultural and historic detour to the ancient capital of Kyoto typically thrown in.

But for a foreign visitor to leave Japan with memories of only those cities is a missed opportunity, according to Teplass-Mugii, executive director of Tokyo-based travel company The Art of Travel.

“There are so many places to see and so many things to do that often when I go to these places I wonder why there is nobody else there with me,” she said.

Japan wants to encourage more tourism over the next decade. Photo: Hoshinoya Fuji Hotel

All that could soon be set to change, however, under a new government initiative designed to get overseas visitors off the beaten track.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x