The global tourism industry has been stuck in an abyss for more than a year and a half because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Japan is sticking to its goal of attracting an annual 60 million inbound travelers by 2030, an executive of the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Attracting inbound tourists has been a key pillar of the government’s attempts to boost the economy, and the number of foreign visitors was on a steady rise — until the coronavirus outbreak.
With strict travel restrictions in place, foreign visitors to Japan plummeted 87.1% to 4.12 million last year — far below its initial target of 40 million. International tourists around the world declined 73% worldwide in 2020, making it the weakest year on record, according to the U.N. World Tourism Organization.