Tag - tourism

 
 

TOURISM

A Cathay Pacific Airways aircraft prepares to land at Hong Kong International Airport. Data shows that major airlines produce almost twice as much emissions for every passenger they carry than low-cost carriers.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jan 23, 2024
No-frills flying emerges as air travel’s painful, greener future
Budget airlines’ obsession with lowering weight to save fuel happens to produce the best emissions metrics in the skies.
Average spending per customer at convenience stores increased 1.1% to ¥723.5 in 2023, but the outlook remains uncertain as inflation drags on.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2024
Japan's convenience store sales rise 4.1% to record high in 2023
Average spending per customer increased 1.1% to ¥723.5, but the outlook remains uncertain as inflation drags on.
The government estimates that in 2020, more than 10,000 visitors from China traveled to Japan for comprehensive medical examinations, spending around ¥1.5 million on average.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2024
Japan's high-end medical services attract affluent Chinese tourists
The current trend reflects a growing health consciousness in China after the coronavirus pandemic, travel industry experts have said.
Japan Airlines launched a new project in March 2021 in which about 1,000 flight attendants engage in promoting tourist resources in Japan's 47 prefectures.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 22, 2024
Regional business creators system picks up steam in Japan
The system allows local governments to leverage private-sector know-how in areas including tourism promotion and digitalization.
Kazuo Nozaki (left) played a central role in the establishment of the Tsuchinoko Expedition, and Kohei Michishita, executive director of Shimokitayama Tsuchinoko Park, on Nov. 27, 2023.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 19, 2024
Village revisiting craze of phantom creature for local promotion
A snake-like creature that can tell lies, swill sake and jump 2 meters high becomes the best hope for a community suffering from depopulation.
Tokyo's Ginza shopping district on Wednesday. Spending by visitors totaled a record ¥5.3 trillion in 2023, up by roughly 10% compared with the tally in 2019.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2024
Japan’s economy gets boost from 25 million visitors in 2023
A weak yen has helped boost tourists’ spending power, making Japan a much more affordable and attractive destination.
The Nagasaki Marriott Hotel, part of redevelopment work on the city's main train station complex, offers 207 rooms on the seventh to 13th floors with panoramic views of local attractions such as Nagasaki Port and Mount Inasa.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2024
Marriott opens hotel in Nagasaki amid hopes of boosting tourism
The Nagasaki Marriott Hotel is the chain's ninth in Japan, and its first in the southwestern Kyushu region.
The natural attractions and the friendly locals convinced Norihiro Kanzawa and his wife, Zoe, to set up a business, Niyodo Adventure, in Kochi Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 13, 2024
Norihiro Kanzawa: 'Smiles are always a great source of inspiration'
An adventure tourism professional and soon-to-be father shares his journey into making canyoning and packrafting his full-time job.
Instead of hoping seats are free and scrambling to find luggage space on the shinkansen, what if you could fly charter across Japan on your next trip instead?
LIFE / Travel
Jan 13, 2024
Can charter flights connect rich tourists with rural Japan?
The tours, which fly to cities in western, central and northern Japan, will be priced from around ¥1.5 million per person for a group of four people staying two nights.
Passengers walk past a sign directing them to specific lines for EU and non EU passports as they arrive at Dublin Airport in Ireland in September 2019.
WORLD / Society
Jan 11, 2024
These are the world’s most powerful passports in 2024
A decade ago, the two countries shared the top spot, but comparing this year’s list to the 2014 ranking reveals some other major shifts.
The New York Times website lists the city of Yamaguchi among its "52 places to go in 2024."
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2024
Yamaguchi among New York Times '52 Places to Go' list for 2024
Noting its moniker as 'the Kyoto of the West,' NYT praised Yamaguchi's traditional charms and smaller crowds
Tourists fill Kiyomizuzaka street near Kiyomizu Temple in the city of Kyoto in November.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2024
Kyoto becoming more proactive in tackling overtourism
Threatening social and cultural conflicts, issues arising from overtourism include public transportation congestion.
People visit the Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, China, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 7, 2024
Fairy-tale ice sculptures lure droves of tourists into China's Harbin
This year the ice park spans 810,000 square meters with 250,000 cubic meters of sculptured ice, harvested from the nearby frozen Songhua River.
A snack bar tour guide typically escorts three to four people, taking them to two different snacks in one evening and quizzing the group on Japanese language and snack culture.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 7, 2024
‘Snack bars' the target of Tokyo’s newest tour push
The English-language tours began in December last year and are currently conducted two to three times a week in Tokyo.
The Sapporo Snow Festival offers outdoor dining, markets, sports, ice sculptures and more across three event sites.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 6, 2024
Asia's winter festivals: Snow, fire and spectacle galore
The ancient city of Nara wards off the wintertime darkness with an unusual tradition: lighting a local mountain on fire.
A man makes his way along Asaichi-dori street, which witnessed a fire following an earthquake, in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 4, 2024
As Wajima digs out from quake, hopes fade for tourism recovery
The city, renowned for its fisheries, lacquerware and markets — faces a long road to recovery after the Jan. 1 quake.
Sales of cardiotonics and vitamin B1, popular products among foreign travelers, rose in 2023 amid a tourism rebound.
BUSINESS
Jan 2, 2024
Heart stimulants saw biggest 2023 sales rise in Japan amid tourism rebound
Sales of products popular with foreign visitors are increasing in line with the recovery of inbound tourism, a survey has found.
The entrance lobby of Accor's Mercure Tokyo Hibiya, which recently opened in the capital
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 2, 2024
Backed by tourism potential, hotels keen to cultivate Japanese market
Because Japan was slow to reopen its borders, there appears to be robust, pent-up demand to visit the country.
A line of travelers on a shinkansen platform at JR Tokyo Station on Friday
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 31, 2023
Inflation and weak yen hit Japan's appetite for holiday spending
More than half of the respondents to a survey said they would cut seasonal spending.
People line up to enter the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in the city of Hiroshima on Aug. 14.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2023
Hiroshima museum eyes online ticketing to ease congestion
The surge in visitors to the museum is apparently attributable chiefly to the effects of the Group of Seven summit held in the city in May.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals