JAPAN hopes its tourism industry will recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2025, as travel demand continues to rise globally.
Tourism authorities in the country also seek to have the number of overnight stays in regional areas by foreign visitors increase from the 2019 total of 43.09 million.
According to a Kyodo News report, the plan by the Japan Tourism Agency is expected to be approved by the Cabinet, which also unveiled an extra budget of almost 30 trillion yen (US$199 billion) to mitigate rising inflation that was exacerbated by a weaker yen.
In 2019, just before the start of the pandemic, a record 31.88 million tourists visited Japan. The numbers were only 4.12 million in 2020 and 250,000 in 2021.
The tourism agency is optimistic about the recovery, in line with forecasts that the number of international air passengers will recover to 2019 levels by 2025.
There are also some international events that will be held in Japan in 2025, such as the Expo 2025 in Osaka and the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, and these are also expected to boost visitor numbers.
As part of its aim of revitalising regional areas, the tourism agency has also proposed promoting travel outside of metropolitan areas by highlighting historical and natural attractions offered by each region.
With the weaker yen making the country more attractive to foreign tourists, the government hopes the annual tourist spending will be able to reach 5 trillion yen (US$34 billion) as soon as possible, eclipsing the 4.8 trillion yen spent in 2019.
The tourism plan also includes measures to increase the amount spent per person and their length of stay in Japan, as well as how to address "tourism pollution" issues.
Issues such as congestion on public transportation and littering. usually come with any rapid increase of foreign visitors, similar to the situation before the pandemic,
The Japanese government is also maintaining its current goal of 60 million foreign visitors yearly by 2030.
The Kyodo News also reported that the economic package approved on Tuesday will be funded by issuing bonds worth 22.85 trillion yen.
The key feature of the economic package is reducing utility bills for Japanese households, with savings of around 45,000 yen between January and September for each household.
The government is expected to table the extra budget plan in parliament later this month.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces a drop in public support ratings and hopes the move will underscore his administration's efforts to cushion the blow to households from rising consumer prices, which jumped three per cent in September.
"We should not hesitate to spend as needed in times of emergency to protect the livelihoods of people in Japan," Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said after the budget plan was approved by the Cabinet.
"It's also true that our nation's fiscal situation is becoming all the more severe," Suzuki said, adding that crisis-mode massive spending cannot last long, with Japan's fiscal health in dire straits.
With the additional spending, Japan's total spending in the current fiscal year will come to almost 140 trillion yen, marking the third-largest amount on record.
However, the government's response has been criticised by some saying that the main focus was on boosting the size of the stimulus package rather than examining its substance.
The government also hopes the energy focused steps would help lower the country's core consumer inflation by 1.2 per cent.
This is because Japan relies heavily on energy imports to meet domestic needs but higher fuel costs largely due to the Russia - Ukraine conflict has made matters worse just as the economy was recovering from the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.