FUKUI — Packing in students has led to big profits for an inexpensive inn run by the Fukui Municipal Government that was teetering on bankruptcy.
"Students are not influenced by economic trends, and as five or six of them stay in one room, the profit rate is higher than individual tourists," said Eiji Nakanishi, sales director at Nihon Travel Center Co. in Osaka.
With subsidies given to students from local governments to stay at inns and hotels for their club camps, others are hoping for success stories like the one in Fukui — which went back to the black in just 12 months after years of deficits.