Japan Removes '40 Million Visitors Target' Sentence from This Year's Tourism White Paper

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The Japanese government has omitted the goal of attracting 40 million tourists this year in its tourism white paper due to a significant decrease in tourists caused by the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), Asahi Shimbun and others reported on the 16th.

According to the report, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism removed any mention of the scale of inbound tourists in the '2020 Tourism White Paper' released that day.

In 2018-2019, the section titled 'Inbound Travel Situation' included the previous year's inbound tourist numbers and stated that "we are steadily moving toward the 40 million target for 2020." However, this year's white paper only noted that last year's inbound tourists reached 31.88 million, "setting a record high for the seventh consecutive year," without separately stating any target.

Regarding this, the Japan Tourism Agency explained, "The white paper reports on the situation and policies annually and is not intended to set targets," adding, "Our stance of moving toward the 40 million target for 2020 remains unchanged."

The number of inbound tourists for this year, based on data from January to April, was 3.94 million, showing a 64.1% decrease compared to the same period last year. Asahi reported, "Due to the impact of COVID-19 and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, achieving the target has become difficult, which appears to be the reason for the absence of the related statement."

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