[Robert J. Fouser] Japan battles overtourism

Golden Week has long been one of the busiest times to travel in Japan. A series of holidays starting on April 29 and ending May 5 gives people at least a week off work. This year, the crowds are bigger than ever as foreign tourists pour in while Japanese stay home. The weak yen and pent-up demand after the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in 2023 have driven much of the boom. Before the pandemic, Japan had been growing in popularity as policies, such as easier entry, to attract foreign visits were adopted in the run up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The sustained tourist boom has raised complaints about overtourism in popular destinations, such as Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Tourists carrying luggage crowd trains and stations, causing inconvenience to busy commuters. The same holds true for popular restaurants and shops, causing locals to avoid their favorite places. Kyoto has long been a popular destination with Japanese tourists, but the sudden increase in foreign visitors has strained the existing tourist infrastructure.

For many Japanese, the most frustrating aspect of the tourist boom is overcrowding, but some complain about the lack of respect for Japanese cultural norms. In Kyoto, for example, frustration over tourists taking photos of geisha and maiko walking in the Gion area prompted the city to put up signs warning of a 10,000-yen fine for taking their photos without consent. Private streets in the area have since been closed to tourists.

To reduce the effects of overtourism, cities and crowded destinations are considering adopting a dual price structure for tourists and residents. Himeji Castle, for example, recently increased its entry fee from 1,000 yen to 2,500 yen for non-residents of Himeji starting in 2026. And Kyoto has increased the tax on hotels, particularly at the high end.

The idea behind the dual price structure is to increase revenue that can be used for the benefit of residents in the hope of offsetting the inconveniences from increased tourism. Though not high enough to deter tourists from coming, advocates of a dual price structure argue that it causes tourists to think about their priorities.

But do these measures work? In 2024, Venice introduced a five-euro fee for day trippers during peak season. This year, the fee doubled to 10 euros. So far, the fees have done little to reduce tourist numbers, but they have helped to draw attention to overtourism. The problem is that people want to go to Venice because of its brand and because the weak euro has made it affordable. The same holds true for Kyoto and other big-name tourist destinations.

To reduce tourist numbers, then, popular destinations need to do one or both of the following things: weaken the brand and strengthen the local currency. The first is unwise and the second is dependent on national policy and international financial markets.

Like products, city brands develop from that complex interaction of unique image, policy, and media coverage over time. Venice has long been enigmatic for its unique cityscape and important cultural events such as the Venice Biennale of Art. Reports of overtourism have hurt the brand, but they have yet to weaken the attraction of its historic uniqueness. Kyoto has a similarly strong brand based on historic uniqueness despite new construction in the city center.

City brands can suffer damage from the perception of insecurity, such as crime, terrorism, and natural disasters. New York’s brand weakened in the 1970s as crime took over the subways but recovered as crime went down in the 1990s. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, caused a sharp drop in tourism, but it rebounded as perceptions of safety returned.

Because no city really wants to hurt its brand, exchange rates remain the most powerful tool to reduce overtourism. In the early 2010s one US dollar bought about 80 yen compared to 143 today. If the yen strengthened to, say 100 to the US dollar, Japan would no longer be affordable and foreign tourist numbers would drop sharply. Similarly, if the euro strengthen to its late 2000s peak, then the crowds in Venice would thin.

What does this mean for Seoul and other South Korean cities with a heavy foreign tourist impact? Playing with fees, taxes and regulations will do little to reduce tourist numbers, but increased revenue could help with preservation and maintenance of popular sites. A powerful won, say 1,000 or 1,100 to the US dollar, would bring down tourist numbers quickly.

Robert J. Fouser

Robert J. Fouser, a former associate professor of Korean language education at Seoul National University, writes on Korea from Providence, Rhode Island. He can be reached at robertjfouser@gmail.com. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. — Ed.